Property purchase paves way for hospital…but still no funding agreed

Thursday 23 November 2017

The States are to go ahead with purchasing the first in a series of properties that will pave the way for the future hospital – even though funding plans are still to receive the thumbs up.

The Department for Infrastructure authorised the purchase of 44 Kensington Place yesterday, which is known as ‘The Maisonette’ and sits behind the current hospital building.

It will be one of several homes and businesses set to be bought out by the government in a bid to expand the hospital’s premises as part of a £466million project.

The States have the ability to compulsorily purchase any property, but Infrastructure Minister Deputy Eddie Noel, whose department is responsible for the acquisitions, said that the department is trying to avoid this.

Instead, they are negotiating with owners, and are happy to reach deals on a case by case basis.

Pictured: The Kensington Place area, from which the States will purchase various properties in a bid to expand the hospital.

While it’s been known for over a year that the buildings would need to be acquired to make the enlarged Hospital viable, this latest acquisition appears to come somewhat prematurely – the property doesn’t need to be vacant until late 2018.

Moreover, the States are still yet to rubber stamp funding plans for the build. 

The Minister explained, however, that his department had decided to act because the property owners had found alternative accommodation and insisted that it would have been unfair to incur them delays. 

He commented: “This is the first property purchase for the Future Hospital site. This is an opportunity for us and for the vendor to move forward that neither could afford to miss. It is unreasonable for us to ask the owner to wait and risk losing the property they wanted."

Despite this concession, he maintained that the other properties will only be acquired after the final funding decision is made.

"Discussions will continue with other owners and we will look to acquire the remaining properties by negotiation once the decision on funding has been considered by the States Assembly on 12th December," he said.