States deny “conscious policy” to let Fort Regent decay

Wednesday 06 February 2019

States officials have denied deliberately letting Fort Regent deteriorate, arguing that plans to improve it had fallen through due to a lack of funding.

The comments came from outgoing Director of Jersey Property Holdings, Ray Foster, which were yesterday shared in a report by the Public Accounts Committee (PAC), containing pointed criticism of his department.

During their review, the committee - a panel of politicians responsible for assessing how taxpayer money is managed and spent - questioned Mr Foster's department over the strategy for a number of buildings, including Fort Regent, which a States-commissioned report recently recommended be closed. 

Pictured: The Director of JPH denied there had been a conscious policy to let Fort Regent deteriorate.

In his response, Mr Foster described Fort Regent as “a very difficult building” - even with £750,000 spent on maintenance annually.  

He said: “It is a fort which in its structure means that it is effectively a poorer structure. It is never going to be something that you will ever make - without spending millions and millions and millions of pounds - a modern facility unless you do something different with it. 

“We struggle and have been struggling most recently with issues in relation to the fabric of the fort, the internal fabric. Water penetration means that we have degradation inside the fort, which we are dealing with but it is a bit of a Forth Bridge job, to be honest.”

Pictured: John Rogers says that Fort Regent lost his viability as a leisure venue when the swimming pool and the cable cars closed.

Mr Foster however denied that there had been a conscious policy to allow the much-loved landmark deteriorate and that discussion about its future “would take place”. He admitted, however, that a recent scheme to improve it had “fallen away” due to insufficient funds, but that he still thought it had a lot of merit as a piece of work. 

The Director General of Growth, Housing and Environment (GHE), John Rogers, said that the closing of the swimming pool and the closure of the cable cars had marked the end of the Fort’s viability as a leisure venue. He said that “what was successful in the Fort 25 to 30 years ago would not be now”, before admitting it was his responsibility to come up with a plan.

He said it would be “a significant investment” and that he hoped there would be “a public and private partnership where there are alternative uses".

Pictured: Picquet House has been largely unused for many years, apart from ‘pop-up’ art exhibitions and short term projects. 

Mr Rogers also commented on Picquet House, the former police station located in the Royal Square.

He said that his department had been unable to get rid of it but still had “to maintain it and look after it and keep it watertight.” “It becomes very frustrating because you are not getting rid of those issues and you are still carrying on with those while still trying to drive other things forward,” he added.

He admitted having been shocked when he visited the back of Overdale Hospital d saw the condition of the non-refurbished parts, describing the property as “absolutely awful.”

Pictured: Parts of Overdale have been left vacant and in a state of decay for many years.

The long-term future of the home of the Sea Cadets was also discussed.

Mr Rogers also said that it would be cheaper to build an alternative building for the Sea Cadets, rather than refurbish the “terrible” current one.