STATES OF JERSEY
r
Millennium Town Park: Funding from Strategic Reserve
Lodged au Greffe on 3rd January 2008
by Deputy G.P. Southern of St. Helier
STATES GREFFE
PROPOSITION
THE STATES
are asked to decide whether they are of opinion -
to
request the Minister for Treasury and Resources to lodge a proposition in
accordance with Article 4(3) of the Public Finances (Jersey) Law 2005
asking the States to agree to transfer £10 million from the interest on
the Strategic Reserve Fund to the Consolidated Fund so that the States can then
be requested, during the debate on a future Annual Business Plan, to allocate
these funds to meet the capital cost of creating the Millennium Town Park.
DEPUTY G.P. SOUTHERN OF ST. HELIER
REPORT
Background
In 1998, the States
adopted a proposition (P.190/97) to create a public town park for the benefit
and enjoyment of local residents. The proposition was carried by 45 votes
to 2 and specified that –
(a) the
Town Park was to be created on the Talman and Gasworks sites;
(b) the
Town Park would be known as the Millennium Town Park;
(c) the
park would be for the benefit of all Islanders and future generations;
(d) the
land should not be used for a multi-storey car park or any other use in a way
that would preclude the creation of a public park.
On 11th April 2000
the Planning and Environment Committee presented a report to the States which
set out 3 options and made a recommendation for a full-size park and
3-storey underground parking for 826 vehicles.
This ambitious
plan, which was costed at around £30 million, served only to delay
progress on the Millennium Town Park (MTP) as debate raged about what was
required; a green park in isolation or in combination with a car park, whether
under- or over-ground, some commercial building on part of the site or not, and
other variations too numerous to mention.
Since that time,
the economic climate changed and the resources available for capital projects
were drastically reduced in response first to an economic downturn and subsequently
to tax changes due in 2010. In 2005, Deputy R.C. Duhamel lodged a
proposition (P.169/2005) for the formation of a Trust to enable the MTP, then
to include 3 storeys of underground parking, to be progressed using
private funding. This proposition was rejected.
Wide support
Throughout this
time however, there remained a strong public desire to develop the site to
provide a valuable community facility for the residents of St. Helier and
the Island as a whole. This public desire was, and still remains, reflected in
the position of the vast majority of States members.
Thus in comments on
P.169/2005 we find –
“The Policy
and Resources Committee strongly supports the development of a Town Park on the
Gasworks/Talman site, and it accepts that the delays in development have been
unfortunate. The Committee believes that the project should be given a high
priority and brought forward as soon as realistically possible.”
and from the then Environment and Public Services
Committee –
“The Committee supports the
development of a Town Park and has devoted a considerable amount of time to
exam how a development on the Talman and Gasworks sites could be achieved
within the funds available.”
The Town Park
project has remained high on the list of priorities in the minds of the public
and in the States. It survives in both the Strategic Plan and the States
Business Plan 2006 – 11 under Transport and Technical Services
Objective 4.2.3 –
“Develop
a viable proposal in 2006 to provide a new town park for St. Helier within
3 to 4 years.”
Commitment
Yet Hansard reveals that the Minister for Transport
and Technical Services could not commit himself to the delivery of the MTP
despite the optimism demonstrated by Deputy Hilton over the issue as recently
as 22nd November –
2.14.4 Deputy
J.A. Hilton of St. Helier:
Would it be fair to say that the Town Park Project is
on track, subject to funding, and should be delivered in 2010/2011 as indicated
in the strategic plan?
Deputy G.W.J. de Faye:
Yes, it might be fair to say that, Sir, but clearly
the Millennium Town Park project is not on track. It is already 7 years out of
date.
That may well be, Sir, but will the Minister confirm
that subject to the additional funding, which hopefully will be confirmed by
the Council of Ministers, that the Town Park will be delivered as laid out in
the Strategic Plan?
Deputy G.W.J. de Faye:
I am not prepared to make a commitment, Sir, on the
delivery of the Town Park, to a set date at this time.
Members will note I am sure the key phrase, upon which
all else depends “subject to funding”.
Subsequently the MTP was discussed at the Council of
Ministers meeting of 29th November 2007. The minutes are reproduced
below –
_____________________________________________________________________
A5. Town
Park: update
The Council considered a progress report
submitted by the Town Park Project Management Group (TPPMG).
The Council was advised that on 17th May
2007, Deputy J.A. Hilton had met with the Minister for Housing, Deputy J.A.N.
Le Fondré and with officers from the Housing, Property Holdings and Transport
and Technical Services Departments to discuss the scenarios for delivery of the
project. The TPPMG, which was comprised of officers from the above 3
departments, had subsequently been formed to drive the project forward.
It was explained that the TPPMG endorsed the
conclusions of the EDAW report on the future regeneration of St. Helier.
On that basis it was recommended that existing residents of properties at Ann
Court, St. Helier be relocated in existing vacant housing units in order
to facilitate the construction of a new 4 – 5 storey
multi-storey public car park on the site. Replacement of the homes with a newly
constructed car park would provide sufficient capacity for vehicles using the
Gas Place car park and the adjacent Talman site. In turn the relocation of
parking spaces would allow for ground remediation at Gas Place and the Talman
site to proceed. Ann Court residents had been informed of and consulted regarding
the proposals, both by the Minister for Housing and by Housing Department
officers.
An outline timetable for the project had been
determined. The Council was advised that construction of the new car park by
December 2010 and completion of the Town Park by December 2011 would be
achievable; however, it would be necessary to take a number of key decisions in
early course in order to have a realistic chance of meeting the 2011 deadline.
Provision of sufficient funding over the life of the project, together with
completion of certain property transfers, would be necessary to facilitate the
ground remediation works and to achieve delivery of the new car park, the Town
Park, and new States housing. Timely progression of the new car park would be
key to delivering the Town Park before 2012. It was believed that all costs
arising from the design and construction of the car park could be borne by the
Car Park Trading Account; however, this could not be confirmed until such time
as consultants had been appointed and design work had commenced.
The
Council endorsed the progress report and agreed that consultants should be
appointed to commence work on a new multi-storey car park on the existing Ann
Court site. It further recommended that the Minister for Planning and Environment
liaise with the Ministers for Housing and for Transport and Technical Services
regarding planning solutions for the site, particularly in respect of those
residential properties on the site which had been listed as Buildings of Local
Interest. The Council instructed the TPPMG to continue its work and to produce
a further progress report for consideration by the Council within 3 months.
Deputy G.W.J. de Faye requested that his
dissent to the above decision be recorded.
_____________________________________________________________________
Funding
The MTP has
recently received full backing from the Chief Minister and from the Council of
Ministers. What is does not yet have is funding. Hansard records the following
statements on funding from Question Time on 4th December 2007 –
4.9 Deputy
G.P. Southern:
In discussions of the Millennium Town Park project,
can the Minister clarify how much has been allocated to fund the town park
currently and from where these funds are coming and when those funds will be
delivered.
Senator F.H. Walker:
I think the Deputy full well knows the answer to his
own question, but nevertheless the Deputy is, I am sure, aware, or he should be
as the Deputy of St. Helier for that part of St. Helier, that over
£4 million is available through the now somewhat historic Millennium Fund.
He should also be aware that the cost of decontamination is very considerably
higher than was originally anticipated, but that is now a fact of life, and he
will be aware of the statement, the commitment made by the Council of Ministers
last week, which Deputy Hilton put into the public arena, that the money will
be found in 2010 and 2011, subject to the express wishes of this House, of
course, to fund the entire town park, including all the remediation work.
Where will that money be coming from?
Subject to the wishes of this House, my guess is that
it will come, and the proposal I believe, will be that it will come from the
capital programme.
Given that by 2010/2011, we shall be heading into a
structural deficit position, how can the Chief Minister justify that this money
will be available?
I said it would come from the capital programme. I did
not say it would add to the capital programme.
The situation is
clearly set out in the above extracts; in summary –
No wonder that the Minister
for Transport and Technical Services dissented from the decision. He is
required to deliver the MTP by 2012 with no funding having been identified.
Examination of the
Capital Programme reveals that the MTP is competing with essential spending
over the period 2007-2010 of £17 million from Education,
£25 million from Health and £25 million from Home Affairs, mainly on
the Police and the Prison. Transport and Technical Services is allocated
£53 million, mainly on the Energy from Waste plant. A total of
£42 million is allocated for 2011, with some £103 million of
unsuccessful bids for 2011, including £15 million for the General Hospital
Phase 2 extension and over £50 million of TTS capital expenditure
bids.
It seems to me to
be highly unlikely that despite the continued support from all quarters for the
principle of the Millennium Town Park, that funding will be found in the
timescale envisaged given the competing bids for essential spending.
Use of the Strategic Reserve
Although the
Minister for Treasury and Resources has tightened the rules around the use of
the Strategic Reserve in P.133/2006, Establishment of a Stabilisation Fund and
Policy for Strategic Reserve, as follows –
“to agree that the Strategic Reserve
Fund, established in accordance with the provisions of Article 4 of the
Public Finances (Jersey) Law 2005, should be a permanent reserve, where the capital value is only to be used
in exceptional circumstances to insulate the Island’s economy from severe
structural decline such as the sudden collapse of a major Island industry or
from major natural disaster.” (my
emphasis),
he has protected
the capital whilst retaining the flexibility to use the interest on the
Strategic Reserve as he sees fit.
The Strategic
Reserve, or ‘rainy day fund’ as it is known, stood at £456 million in 2005
when it grew from net realised income of £24.5 million (unrealised profit
on investment was £13.4 million). It currently stands at
£516 million.
Support for this
proposition will mean that the Minister for Treasury and Resources will have to
find the funding for the Millennium Town Park. It will mean that a decade of
promises from States members can become reality. Without a clear direction from
members, there is a severe risk that once again the Town Park will fail to
become any more substantial than a mirage in the desert.
The financial costs
are set out in the proposition. There are no additional staffing costs.