Ann Court Site, St. Helier: Disposal to Andium Homes

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A decision made 11 September 2015:

Decision Reference: MD-T-2015-0074
Decision Summary Title :	Disposal of former Ann Court Site to Andium Homes		Date of Decision Summary:	09 September 2015
Decision Summary Author:	Director of Engineering and Infrastructure		Decision Summary: Public or Exempt?	Public
Type of Report: Oral or Written?	Written		Person Giving Oral Report:	N/A
Written Report Title :	Disposal of former Ann Court Site to Andium Homes		Date of Written Report:	09 September 2015
Written Report Author:	Director of Engineering and Infrastructure		Written Report : Public or Exempt?	Public
Subject: Disposal of former Ann Court Site to Andium Homes
Decision(s): The Minister for Transport and Technical Services endorsed the decision of the Minister for Treasury and Resources (MD-PH-2015-0053) of his intention to notify the States of his intention to dispose of the former Ann Court site to Andium Homes for residential development with public parking subject to: The production of a Development Agreement; Confirmation by Ministerial Decision of the respective support of the Housing and TTS Minister; and Confirmation that funding for the development is accessible to Andium.
Reason(s) for Decision: The site provides the increased numbers of shopper parking in the north of town as referenced in the Department’s Sustainable Transport Policy and the North of Town Masterplan.
Resource Implications: There are no immediate resource implications for the disposal of the site to Andium. If Andium can develop a suitable social housing scheme which includes a minimum of 137 public car parking spaces for shoppers the full cost of the car park will be funded from the Car Park Trading Account. There are sufficient funds allocated in the Account to meet these requirements.
Action required: To request the Greffier of the States to arrange for the attached Report to be presented to the States Assembly for Members’ information.
Signature:		Position: Minister for Transport and Technical Services
Date Signed:		Date of Decision (If different from Date Signed):

Ann Court Site, St. Helier: Disposal to Andium Homes

TRANSPORT AND TECHNICAL SERVICES

DISPOSAL OF THE FORMER ANN COURT SITE TO ANDIUM HOMES

Purpose of the Report

This report seeks the endorsement of the Minister for Transport and Technical Services of the Minister for Treasury and Resource’s decision to transfer the Public’s land holdings on the former Ann Court site to Andium Homes (MD-PH-2015-0053) to assemble a site for a residential development with public car parking element on the basis of an agreed methodology for determining a valuation of the residual site value and a Development Agreement.

Background

The site has been identified in the Revised 2011 Island Plan to provide (an estimated) 140 affordable homes, to be delivered by 2020 with the North of Town Master Plan also identifying the site for 185 public shopper car parking spaces. A further Transport and Technical Services and Planning Department review in 2013 revised this car parking number for the site upwards to 200. In order to achieve these numbers and include the affordable homes a scheme including a basement car park was developed.

The Public entered into discussions with Jersey Homes Trust (JHT) with a view to the site being developed by JHT as a social housing site above a basement of public parking, to be funded by the Car Parks Trading Account. In this scheme 180 below ground spaces were to be provided and fully funded by the Department.

The public were not able to reach an agreement with JHT and the Trust decided not to continue with the project.

Discussion

The Public has subsequently entered into discussions with Andium Homes as an alternative developer of the site.

The original concept of providing the public car parking fully underground did not present good value for money and was found to be outside of the available budget held for these works in the Car Park Trading Account. On this basis, and following some further work, it has now been determined that the most economical model to provide the public car parking is a ground level car park. This inevitably reduces the numbers of public car parking spaces that the scheme can produce but will nevertheless provide an increase in valuable shopper parking consistent with the North of Town Master Plan and Sustainable Transport Policy. The reduced numbers will require the refurbishment and extension of the life of Minden Place car park.

Initial work with Andium has predicted that a minimum of 137 spaces can be achieved and it is hoped this number can be increased following detailed design. Whilst this reduction in shopper car parking is not ideal, the Department accepts this compromise as the reduction in numbers brings the predicted cost of the public car parking within the available budget held in the Car Park Trading Account.

Various discussions have taken place involving the Strategic Housing Unit (SHU), Jersey Property Holdings (JPH), Transport and Technical Services and the Treasury, all of whom have a role in the delivery of the site. The officer position of all the involved departments is that an agreement with Andium Homes is the most likely way to achieve the desired outcome for the site.

This position has been agreed by the Minister for Housing and Minister for Transport and Technical Services and will be confirmed by respective Ministerial Decisions prior to a confirmation Ministerial Decision from Treasury.

To move the project forward, Andium Homes will require certainty of ownership to be able to invest a considerable sum in working up plans for the site. It is, therefore, proposed that the Minister for Treasury and Resources agrees in principle to the disposal to Andium Homes of those parts of the site in Public ownership on the basis of the Outline Heads of Terms subject to a detailed Development Agreement to be agreed prior to the confirmatory Ministerial Decision being produced in accordance with Standing Order 168.

Recommendation

That the Minister for Transport and Technical Services endorses the decision of the Minister for Treasury and Resources to transfer the Public’s land holdings on the former Ann Court site to Andium Homes (MD-PH-2015-0053) for development of social housing and public parking, in accordance with the Outline Heads of Terms and subject to the production of a Development Agreement.

Reason(s) for Decision

The Minister for Transport and Technical Services endorsed the decision of the Minister for Treasury and Resources (MD-PH-2015-0053) of his intention to notify the States of his intention to dispose of the former Ann Court site to Andium Homes for residential development with public parking subject to:

The production of a Development Agreement;
Confirmation by Ministerial Decision of the respective support of the Housing and TTS Minister; and
Confirmation that funding for the development is accessible to Andium.

The reason for the decision is that the site provides the increased numbers of shopper parking in the north of town as referenced in the Department’s Sustainable Transport Policy and the North of Town Master Plan

Resource Implications

There are no immediate resource implications for the disposal of the site to Andium. If Andium can develop a suitable social housing scheme which includes a minimum of 137 public car parking spaces for shoppers the full cost of the car park will be funded from the Car Park Trading Account. There are sufficient funds allocated in the Account to meet these requirements.

Action Required

To request the Greffier of the States to arrange for the attached Report to be presented to the States Assembly for Members’ information.

Written by:	Director of Engineering and Infrastructure

Approved by:	Chief Officer

Y:\Minister\2015\Ministerial Decisions 2015\MD 00 Disposal of Ann Court Site to Andium Homes\WR Disposal of Ann Court to Andium Homes.docx