Ann Court Petition (P.202/2009): Ministerial Comment

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A decision made on 2 March 2010 to approve comment to Ann Court Petition (P.202/2009)

Decision Reference: MD-H-2010-0019
Decision Summary Title :	DS – P.202/2009 - Comments		Date of Decision Summary:	1 March 2010
Decision Summary Author:	Carl Mavity – Director of Policy & Development		Decision Summary: Public or Exempt? (State clauses from Code of Practice booklet)	Public
Type of Report: Oral or Written?	Written		Person Giving Oral Report:
Written Report Title :	P.202/2009 - Comments		Date of Written Report:	1 March 2010
Written Report Author:	Carl Mavity – Director of Policy & Development		Written Report : Public or Exempt? (State clauses from Code of Practice booklet)	Public
Subject: To instruct that the Ministers’ comments on P.202/2009 be presented to the States.
Decision(s): The Minister instructed that the attached comment on P.202/2009 be presented to the States.
Reason(s) for Decision: To ensure that the Ministers’ comments are published for the benefit of Members.
Resource Implications: NIL
Action required: Director of Policy & Development to request the Greffier to arrange for the comment to be presented to the States at the earliest opportunity.
Signature:		Position: MINISTER
Date Signed:		Date of Decision (If different from Date Signed):

Ann Court Petition (P.202/2009): Ministerial Comment

P.202/2009

Ann Court Petition - Comments

The Minister for Housing is in agreement with the proposition that the Ann Court social housing site should not be used as the site for a multi-storey car park.

In P.6/2007 the Housing Minister brought forward proposals for meeting the maintenance backlog in the social rented stock. P.6 clearly set out that Ann Court was in need of significant refurbishment indeed certain parts of the existing site were structurally flawed and needed to be demolished and rebuilt. The refurbishment programme published as an annex to P.6 suggested that at 2006 prices a scheme to redevelop the site would cost approximately £9m and would have necessitated the complete decanting of the 76 homes on the site.

Subsequently the site was identified by T&TS as a potential site for an 800 space car park, the development of which is necessary to facilitate the decanting of Gas Place and Talman in order to create the Town Park. An indicative scheme was developed which included the creation of 20 new social rented life long homes on the Charles Street / Providence Street corner of the site together with the refurbishment of 1 & 2 Clifton Place and 33 – 39 Ann Street.

Development of Ann Court, whether as a purely social housing residential development or as part of the Town Park scheme was clearly going to require that all of the homes be emptied and the tenants and their families rehoused. This process began in October 2007 and concluded in November 2008. The Ann Court site has since been cleared of structures and has short term consent from the Planning department for use for rented parking which will provide some income to offset the £500,000 per annum in rental income which has had to be lost as a consequence of demolishing the homes.

The need for homes for our ageing population is growing at a steady rate; the Housing Department’s waiting list is alone indicating a need for some 320 such homes right now. The States rezoned a number of sites in 2008 (P.75/2008) primarily to provide homes to meet that need. Progress to date has been slow. The draft Island Plan brings forward a small number of sites. Some of those we know may be opposed at Parish level. The draft Island Plan sets out that there will be a heavy presumption against the rezoning of any further green fields. We must then look to our existing urban centres to create new homes, particularly homes for the ageing population. The Ann Court site could provide at least a hundred such homes and can therefore play a major part in meeting those needs quickly. A scheme could also provide resident parking, community and other facilities which would support such a development. A scheme to deliver those homes, at least 80 of which must be social rented homes, primarily to meet the needs of the ageing population should be brought forward as part of the North of St Helier Master Plan within the next 12 months. In the interim period the site will be used for temporary rented parking as a means of offsetting the lost rental income within the Housing Department’s revenue budget.