St. Saviour 'Dementia Village' plans thrown out

Friday 09 December 2022

Proposals to create nearly 70 homes and build a ‘Dementia Village’ including a shop, hairdresser and pub on a “redundant commercial site” near Waitrose in St. Saviour have been thrown out by the Planning Committee.

Going against the recommendation of the Planning Department, which was to approve the application, the group of politicians supported plans for the care home but said that the residential units were too small and the block nearest the road was too high.

Dandara had applied to demolish Canning Court, Samuel Le Riche House, a property called Arzl House and former warehouse used by Waitrose and replace them with two blocks of 18 one-bed and 48 two-bed flats, and a three-block ‘village’ to be operated by LV Care Group.

The committee was told that the village concept would be a first for Jersey, based on models successfully used in Europe.

It would comprise of 10 independent-living units, a 57-bed dementia care home and eight units of staff accommodation, designed around a centre ‘street’ complete with its own restaurant, bar, theatre and ‘town hall’.

The committee all expressed its support for the “holistic” nature of the single application, as separate applications for the various elements of the St. Saviour site had been made previously.

Pictured: The application, although rejected, was praised for being the first unified one for the whole site off Plat Douet Road.

The States Members also unanimously supported the dementia village plans and the engagement of the applicant with neighbours, including the next-door primary, whose headteacher spoke in favour of the application at Thursday’s committee meeting. 

However, the application was rejected by four votes to two, with committee Chairman, Trinity Constable Philip Le Sueur, and Deputy Mary Le Hegarat supporting the scheme, and Deputies Steve Luce, Tom Coles, Andy Howell and Alex Curtis voting against.

Deputy Steve Luce said: “I am really struggling with the height of the residential block nearest Plat Douet Road.

"If it came down one storey, I think the application could get over the line.”

Deputy Coles and Curtis, meanwhile, objected to the planned sizes of the flats, which they deemed to be too small. Deputy Howell also had concerns about the lack of play areas for children living in the apartments.