Waterfront Enterprise Board - renewal of ten-year working limit

STATES OF JERSEY

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WATERFRONT ENTERPRISE BOARD: RENEWAL OF TEN-YEAR WORKING LIMIT

Lodged au Greffe on 21st June 2005 by the Policy and Resources Committee

STATES GREFFE

PROPOSITION

THE STATES are asked to decide whether they are of opinion

t o re fer to their Act dated 12th December 1995 in which they approved the establishment of the

Waterfront Enterprise Board as a separate legal entity, agreed to the transfer of administration to the Waterfront Enterprise Board Limited of certain areas of land on the St.  Helier Waterfront, and appointed the Waterfront Enterprise Board Limited as a development agency of the States for an initial ten-year period; and –

to a p p ro v e th e extension of the Board's initial ten year appointment as a development agency for a

further period of ten years from 12th December 2005.

POLICY AND RESOURCES COMMITTEE

REPORT

1. O n 10th November1992, the States approved MapNo. 3-92 asthedevelopment plan for the St. Helier Waterfront area (P.123/1992).
2. O n 12th December 1995 (P.156/1995), the Statesapproved the establishmentof the Waterfront Enterprise Board (WEB)as a separatelegal entity in accordance with the MemorandumandArticlesofAssociation set outintheAppendix to the reportofthePolicyandResourcesCommittee,dated 1st November1995, and decided to appoint Waterfront Enterprise Board Limited as a development agency of the States for an initial periodof10 years. This initial 10-year periodisdue to expire in December 2005.
3. O n 23rd April2002 the States approved the lease and salebythe public to the Waterfront Enterprise Board Limited of a numberof parcels of land located within the St. Helier Waterfrontarea(P.45/2002). The Statesalso agreed that WEB should be able to sub-let or hypothecate the land and that the company should bepermittedto retain any capital receipts from thesale, leasing orsub-leasingofanyoftheareas of land for the purpose of funding further infrastructure work in order to complete the St. Helier Waterfront development as agreed with the Planning and EnvironmentCommittee,and, thereafter to allocate any surplus receiptsto the sinking fund established by the Finance and Economics Committee to meet the costofthecompany'ssharecapital.
4. T h e main purposes oftheabovedecision were toallowWEB to operate commercially,toreduce its reliance on States fundingbyborrowing against the valueof its assets in ordertoundertakedevelopment activities, andto give third parties the confidence that WEBwas in a suitablelegalposition to enter into commercialdevelopment and joint venture agreementsinrelationto the WestofAlbert' project, and that these transactions could beconductedundernear-normalopen-market conditions.
5. W E B,together with its private sectorpartners,aims to complete the majority of the WestofAlbert' project by2011. A numberof partnership transactions have already been entered into (most recently the Island site)and others are to follow shortly, including the Waterfront Hotel. All such transactions will clearly extend over several years and certainly well beyond2006.
6. I t i s essential that the time limitofWEB'smandatebeextendedby a further 10 yearsinorder that the Company can honour its legal, transactional obligations andenter into further transactions asnecessaryto progress its work.
7. I n 2 003, furthermore,itwas stated by the States Treasury that WEB's States fundingwas to be reduced to zero over 3 years andso the company will ceaseto draw onanygrant from the public purse. This increases the company's need for certainty of its ability to trade andto raise its ownrevenuesin the future.
8. T h e States originally establishedWEB in 1995 for an initial period of10 years. During this periodthe Board has delivered results for the States and it will continue todo so through further development partnerships with the private sector and through further development activities in the future.
9. S h o uld the 10-year time limitnot be extended, the States would be obliged to take over all ofWEB's contractual obligations and liabilities.
10. K e y safeguards for the States remainin place, themostimportant of which is that the States continue to be the main shareholdersof the company and remainin overall control of the company's future.
11. It is anticipated that WEB's role indeveloping the St. Helier Waterfront will have been completedby 2015, and it should not therefore benecessarytoseek a further extensionat that time,unlessofcourse the States should decide that WEB should begiven additional responsibilities.
12. Fin ancial and manpower implications

T h e re are no additional financial or manpower implications arising from this proposition.