DEPARTMENT FOR INFRASTRUCTURE
JERSEY PROPERTY HOLDINGS
Ministerial Decision - Minister for Infrastructure
Public
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Subject
Consent to acquire the freehold interest in Fields 80, 84 and 85 Le Champ de Girard Les Quennevais, La Rue Carree, St Brelade via Compulsory Purchase
2127-01-001 LS
1.0 Purpose
The purpose of this report is to seek Ministerial approval for Jersey Property Holdings (JPH) to prepare a Report and Proposition (R&P), in conjunction with the Minister for Education, to lodge with the States Assembly at the earliest opportunity in order to acquire the freehold interest in Fields 80, 84 and 85 Le Champ de Girard Les Quennevais, La Rue Carree, St Brelade (the ‘Land’) by compulsory purchase from the freehold owner (the ‘Owner’) in exercise of the powers conferred by Article 63 of the Education (Jersey) Law 1999 to acquire such interest in land and any other interest therein by compulsory purchase on behalf of the Public in accordance with the provisions of the Compulsory Purchase of Land (Procedure) (Jersey) Law 1961.
It is hereby understood that the Land forms part of a land assembly necessary for the construction of the proposed new Les Quennevais Secondary School together with associated external facilities, parking, landscaping and sports field (the ‘School’).
2.0 Background
The plan appended to this report (SD1) shows the approximate total area of land (the ‘Site’) in 3rd party ownership that it will be necessary for the Public to acquire in order to deliver the School. For good order, the Site comprises Fields 80, 84, 85, 86, 86A, 88, 88A and 87.
Forming an integral part of the Site, the Land is identified as measuring 12.94 vergees (the Land is identified in the site plan appended to this report under SD2).
The various land parcels that make up the Site were valued by an independent chartered surveying firm BNP Paribas Real Estate – (BNPPRE) in 2014 and an update to this valuation was carried out on 19th April 2016. This report highlighted that the market value for land within the Site was around £15,000 per vergee.
Planning consent for the development of the School was granted on the 19th October 2017. A copy of the approved Permit (P/2017/1015) has been appended to this report under SD3.
In 2015 BNPPRE were engaged by JPH to act on behalf of the Public to enter into formal negotiations with the various landowners (and/or their agents if so appointed) to agree terms to acquire the individual land parcels. The Owner of the Land was first represented by Sarre and Company, and later (at their choice) they replaced Sarre and Company with Buckley and Company.
Following protracted negotiations generally consistent purchase considerations were agreed with all landowners based on a value of £15,000 per vergee for the agricultural land (which is largely in line with the BNPPRE valuation), and all parts of the Site (save for the Land forming the subject of this report) have now been acquired by the Public.
During the negotiations it became apparent that it would be necessary to agree further terms with the Owner owing to the possible diminution in value the Owner’s retained land/buildings would suffer as a result of the newly developed School; taking into account a number of factors (including the effect on value of the residential unit currently on the retained land and also any future redevelopment potential of the retained land that would be impacted by the School development).
A valuation was carried out by a 3rd party on instruction from the Owner which confirmed that the valuation was carried out in accordance with the most recent edition of the RICS Valuation Professional Standards (the ‘Red Book’).
The valuation established the diminution in value to the Owner’s retained property (comprising land and buildings) as being £58,900. This value was accepted by JPH and it has therefore been agreed that the Owner will receive this amount from the Public in order to mitigate the loss they would suffer from the development of the School.
SD4 comprises the signed heads of terms pertaining to the Land dated 7th December 2017. In summary, the agreed consideration amounts to £194,100 for Fields 80, 84 and 85 together with the sum of £58,900 to mitigate the diminution in value on the Owners retained land, along with conditions relating to the treatment of the boundaries between the owners retained land and the Public. It was further agreed that the Public would meet the Owner’s reasonable legal and professional fees in relation to the acquisition.
Ministerial Consent to the acquisition based on the Heads of Terms was granted on 11th January 2018 (following the 15 working day period). A copy of the decision and report has been appended to this report under SD5.
3.0 Current Situation
Communication can be evidenced between BNPPRE, JPH, the Law Officers’ Department (LOD), the Owner and their legal advisor throughout 2017. Once signed Heads of Terms were received, the LOD forwarded a draft contract to the Owner’s legal advisors and a completion date of the 26th January 2018 was agreed.
However, the Owner’s legal advisors subsequently raised numerous queries with the draft contract with the effect that completion was first pushed back to the 2nd February, then the 9th February and finally to the 16th February.
On the 14th February 2018 further communication was received from the Owner’s legal advisors the effect of which was to renegotiate all of the major terms pertaining to the acquisition including the consideration agreed and to further seek to include a number of conditions on the future use of the land.
To summarise, the terms are a significant departure from the agreed Heads of Terms and are:
- Revise the consideration from £15,000 per vergee to £16 psf (resulting in a total change from £194,100 to circa £4,000,000)
- Limiting future use of the Land to only contain elements of the school (in particular, sports field, sports hall and wildlife area),
- Preventing subdivision and alienation of any part of the Land sold other than as a single corpus fundi,
- Restricting the use of the sports field beyond 9.30pm
Not to have any flood lighting or PA systems installed within the school or sports field, - No organised events to take place on the sports field on Sundays or Bank Holidays,
- That the sale of the Land is to be contingent on an ‘offer extended to rearrange driveway’ to the Owner’s retained residential property and a request that JPH expedite the planning application decision notice. (It should be noted that JPH strongly refutes that the acquisition has ever been contingent upon this).
A further point raised subsequently was that the Owner’s legal advisors had ‘seemingly been engaged at the last minute as a deliberate strategy to avoid scrutiny of the negotiations’. In relation to this, JPH would like to clarify that it is not down to the Public to instruct the Owner’s legal advisors; the Owner was able to engage a lawyer at any stage of the negotiations. In any event, JPH, the LOD and BNPPRE can evidence involvement with the Owner and their legal firm from 2017 onwards.
It has been confirmed to the Owner’s lawyers, in responding to the points raised above, that the Public remains ready, willing and able to pass contract on the basis of the signed Heads of Terms
For good order this report confirms that the Public have no intention to renegotiate any of the terms that had previously been agreed and reached through a fair and transparent negotiating process.
4.0 Conclusion
It appears that, given the Owner’s insistence to renegotiate all of the agreed terms, communications have reached a stalemate. Fields 85, 84 and 80, La Rue Carree, St Brelade are needed for the new school, as it cannot be built in their absence.
The Land forms the final remaining corpus fundi necessary to acquire in order for JPH to move contractor’s onsite and break ground. A delay in starting construction will cause development costs to increase significantly and will have a severe impact on delivering the final product in time for the September 2020 intake.
Therefore, to complete the necessary site assembly for the development and delivery of the new Les Quennevais Secondary School, the only option available to the Public is to acquire the Land via a Compulsory Purchase mechanism.
In order to achieve this, the Minister for Education should be empowered, in exercise of the powers conferred by Article 63 of the Education (Jersey) Law 1999, as amended, to acquire the Land by compulsory purchase on behalf of the public in accordance with the provisions of the Compulsory Purchase of Land (Procedure) (Jersey) Law 1961, as amended.
5.0 Recommendation
This report hereby recommends to the Minister for Infrastructure, in conjunction with the Minister for Education, to lodge a R&P with the States Assembly in order to start proceedings to acquire the Land by compulsory purchase on behalf of the Public in accordance with the provisions of the Compulsory Purchase of Land (Procedure) (Jersey) Law 1961.
Written By: (Estates Surveyor)
Signature …………………………
Authorised By: (Director/Assistant Director JPH)
Signature ………………………… 5 March 2018
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