STATES OF JERSEY

POLICE STATION RELOCATION: REVIEW OF DECISION

Lodged au Greffe on 2nd October 2012 by Deputy J.A. Martin of St. Helier

STATES GREFFE

2012   Price code: C  P.92

PROPOSITION

THE STATES are asked to decide whether they are of opinion

to request the Minister for Planning and Environment –

1. not to approve  any  development  of  a  new  police  headquarters  in Green Street car park, St. Helier ;
2. subject to the results of the consultation process, to take the necessary steps to bring forward for approval a revision to the Island Plan 2011, to provide that the open area of car parking between Route du Fort, Green Street cemetery, the car park and Lime Grove, be safeguarded for the future redevelopment and/or expansion of car parking;
3. to review the various master plans for which he has responsibility and to identify a larger and more suitable site for the development of a new police headquarters.

DEPUTY J.A. MARTIN OF ST. HELIER

REPORT

Despite the best efforts of those proposing the relocation of the police headquarters to the open area of Green Street car park, it seems to be an attempt to put a quart into a pint  pot.  I  support  the  need  for  the  States  of  Jersey  Police  to  be  properly accommodated, and indeed, it is because I want the police to have a new headquarters that will be future proofed' – sufficient for the next half century – that I do not think the proposed site is right.

The Assistant Minister for Treasury and Resources has spent much time and effort in trying to persuade us that the Green Street site is right for the States of Jersey Police, even though the original plans had to be reduced by one floor. I find it amazing to learn that special dispensation had to be obtained to allow more development to go on top of the cell block, as this would not normally be permitted, and that light to some parts of the building will have to be piped' in by a complicated process.

I have had a lot of concerns  expressed  to  me  by  residents  of  the  area  who  are concerned about the impact that the relocated Police HQ may have on their quality of life. Traffic and parking is a major concern, which is understandable given how busy La Route du Fort is already, with the roundabout and the tunnel itself frequently blocked by stationary or slow moving traffic, while many try to park at Green Street car park.

The St. Helier Roads Committee has recently taken a strong line against the proposals, and they are particularly concerned about the difficulty of public access to a new police station on the roundabout. (See Appendix 1 Précis of Roads Committee). There will be little, if any, public parking and while this may already be the case at the Rouge Bouillon police station, surely we should be looking for a site that does allow the public to drive to their Police HQ, as not everyone is able to walk or cycle.

But the biggest concern is the impact on one of Town's most important car parks which is already full very  early  on  each  day.  Differing  figures  have  been given regarding car parking availability, in order, in my opinion, to try to hide the impact this development will have on the car park. With more and more people living and driving in Jersey, as has been shown in the latest census, it just does not make sense to build the new police station on part of the car park. Green Street car park was offered to  the  public  as  an  alternative  parking  site  when  the  Millennium  Town  Park development went ahead without underground car parking, yet here we are less than a year later telling the public that this option will no longer be available, and people will have to go to Pier Road car park instead!

Green Street, in my view, should be safeguarded for car parking so that when funds permit it can be expanded to provide more parking so that residents, shoppers and visitors can have ready access to the range of shops and businesses in St. Helier that depend on convenient parking for their customers nearby. Only a few years back money was to be made available for the planned multi-storey car park at Ann Court for up to 900 spaces. Where has this money gone?

We  have  had  many  reports  regarding  the  future  of   St. Helier  and  only  last  year approved the North of Town Master Plan. This plan aims to keep parking to the outskirts of Town and Green Street is therefore in a prime strategic position to provide such parking.

Appendix 2 contains an email exchange and statement from officers of the Transport and Technical Services Department relating to the requirement for parking in Town. Please also note that most of this parking is Jam tomorrow' – none is built or even on its way. It is also stated that only commuters will be affected – this is not true and no account has been taken of the pattern of shift work undertaken by police officers within the ARUP traffic assessment report. They will park in Green Street on a 24/7 basis and the residents who use the car park in the evening will therefore be affected.

The ARUP traffic assessment study was presented in support of developing the Green Street site for the new Police HQ. The full document is attached as Appendix 3. I have only picked out the obvious problems with the report but I think it produces more questions than answers.

The report totally ignores the new offices of State Street who will have approximately 200 employees moving in to their new premises in Grenville Street/Colomberie over the next few months. The same report also presumes that if the Police HQ is built on this site, out of the 220 officers and staff on duty at any one time they would require 86 car parking spaces, 46 motorcycles spaces and 46 spaces for bikes. The report acknowledges  on  page  8  that  information  supplied  by  the  police  indicates  that although much of the present parking demand is catered for in off-street locations adjacent to the present Police buildings, around 20 police staff presently park their vehicles in public parking areas, such that the effective increase in parking demand for public car parking space created by the new Police HQ will be around 65 vehicles. There is very little, if any, off street parking in this area so all will have to park at Green Street.

Page 1 of the ARUP report refers to the current bus movements in the area. There are many mistakes in relation to this topic – they state that the Number 18 service passes close by every 15 minutes in peak hour. This service is every 20 minutes all day. There is no mention of School buses which makes me think this survey was done in a school holiday thereby giving a totally false account of the traffic at this very busy junction.

Page 2 of the ARUP report refers to the Road Network. The Site is located adjacent to La Route du Fort. Currently, vehicular access to the site is via a T-junction on Green Street (north) i.e. the car park access. It is proposed that future access to the site (for vehicles) will be via a new T-junction on La Route du Fort.

La Route du Fort presently carries around 1750-1900 vehicles per hour (two-way) in peak hours – with a peak directional flow of around 110 vehicles per hour (westbound in the morning peak and east bound in the afternoon peak. The junction at Green Street is busy during the peak hours – with queues present on La Route du Fort and Tunnel Road in particular. Observation indicates however that some of the congestion at the roundabout can be ascribed to the presence (and frequent activation of) the signalised pedestrian crossing on the Tunnel Road just west of the roundabout – which results in vehicles stopping on the roundabout gyratory system and blocking entering traffic,  especially from La Route du Fort.  This  would  seem  to  imply  that  if  the signalised crossing was removed this would solve the problem. It would however cause a much bigger problem, how would pedestrians cross the road safely?

Also  on  page  2,  the  report  quotes  under  Parking  that  The  2011  Island  Plan (policy TT10) set a limit of 4,000 town public parking spaces'. The problem with this

is the 2011 Island Plan was based on the 2001 census figures. St. Helier now has approximately 5,000 new properties. Therefore the parking provision in the ARUP is based on very out of date figures, even when the Sustainable Transport Policy is taken into consideration.

The next 2 graphs show the dwellings in St. Helier in 2001 Census and the 2012 Census –

Jersey Census 2001

Jersey Census 2011

An increase of 4,730 dwellings with many more homes planned for St. Helier in the months and years to come. Where will they park?

In reply to questions on the 11th September the Minister for Transport and Technical Services said that the Car Park Trading Fund was to be recompensed by Treasury at £100,000 a year for the loss of the claimed 91 spaces at Green Street car park.

Notably the Minister did not directly state what the parking potential for the future was. Not surprising, as this is a key issue. There were re-development plans for Green Street car park in that precise location which would have been at least three and probably four storeys. In other words, close on 500 car parking spaces. Admittedly, there is the capital cost of building the car park extension in the first place but, let's be clear, car parks in St. Helier are profit centres. A two storey underground facility at the Town Park would now be netting around £1 million per year and I have yet to hear cost estimates for construction at more than £30 million (including a park on top). The economics are primarily impacted by the "design life" of the structure and the original Andrew Le Quesne private project proposals anticipated a quality finish to be capable of lasting 100 years. I'm sure you can do the maths. We now have the Town Park but we have only moved the problem of parking to Ann Court, which replaces some of the

parking lost at Gas Place. If we lose this valuable parking space at Green Street and the anticipated extra parking which it could provide, we will have these cars stuck at Ann Court (which is a very good site) for another 40 years.

Meanwhile, it appears that our new Police HQ is going to cost a minimum of £100,000 per annum to run, as this is what is to be reimbursed to the Car Park Trading Fund. This is a ridiculous state of affairs. Not only is the States about to build on an income generating site, thereby radically reducing its future income potential, but this is one of the few car parks serving the East of the Island, which is very poorly served from that point of view.

I still struggle to understand why we now need a Police HQ on one site, as I cannot help but think circumstances have not dramatically changed since it was considered that a split site would be the best option. As far as I can tell the primary issue with the existing buildings is the state of the arrest cells. Why we have to have one building remains something of a mystery.

There is no shortage of office space in the current economic downturn, so why not move the police out temporarily and rebuild the operational part on the existing site? It is obvious that expenditure of £20 million+ in the current financial climate is simply wrong.

I think this all has be taken into account and that is why I am giving the States the chance to decide if they think this is the best use of land.

One final argument worth mentioning:

It is important in terms of policing strategy that the Town centre is a pleasant place for people to live; with cohesive communities, eyes on the street, attractive for families and so on. This depends on St. Helier being a prosperous and active economic centre, with a healthy retail sector, variety of leisure pursuits, safe pedestrian areas, attractive and pleasant residential quarters. This balance produces a good quality of life and leads to reduced crime and a feeling of safety that means police presence can be deployed more productively.

In order for St. Helier to develop in sustainable ways in the face of competition and to maintain the trend towards more people choosing to live with their families in Town, it is important that strategic questions of car parking are dealt with. The Green Street site has long been identified as a strategic place to provide car parking which is accessible on that side of Town. In order to provide the quality walking routes, bus shelters, seating, home zones, cycle routes and so on, the balance of on-street car parking needs to change. This requires the car park capacity at Green Street, which is strategically located to provide the social and economic benefits for forthcoming decades.

If the Town centre was allowed to decay in the face of competition from online shopping and the challenges of a poor transport strategy, and become shabby, derelict, clogged with on-street parking and disfigured by boarded up shops and underinvested residential properties, the effects on community and crime levels would arguably outweigh any benefit from the new Police HQ and place additional burdens and demands on policing. Community involvement in policing, whether from citizens' input or the Honorary Service, demands a Police HQ that meets the community's needs, not just those of the States of Jersey Police. If we want community involvement in policing, then the location of the Police HQ should not alienate the public by

harming the community's economic and social needs. If the location of the Police HQ is not accessible then this could disadvantage the Honorary Police, those who offer their services as translators and could discourage recruitment, which will create further difficulties for policing strategy.

It  is  therefore  in  the  interests  of  policing  that  this  site  be  used  for  long-term community transport needs rather than a short-term non-future-proofed fix for the new Police HQ.

Financial and manpower statement There will be no manpower costs as such.

The costs incurred to date associated with the development of the Route du Fort site for  the  Police  HQ,  including  design  fees,  surveys  and  investigations,  and  other miscellaneous costs (such as legal fees etc.) are set out below. I have also shown separately the fee paid to Planning for the recent Planning Application.

This amount is equivalent to the income which Green Street car park, if extended, would generate every year.

APPENDIX 1

Précis of Roads Committee comments:

It is likely, and entirely predictable, that security needs will change – the building is not future-proofed and offers no scope for re-allocating space. The Roads Committee considers it likely that within the foreseeable future a request will come back for a further site to accommodate services, thereby reverting to a split between two sites.

The proposed access is of necessity so unfriendly and does not provide a suitable entrance for a public building. The adjacent pavements are extremely narrow – barely wide enough for two pedestrians to pass. If the motorcycle and bicycle parking is sited on the other side of the road, this will create a continuous demand on the crossing facilities either side (zebras at roundabout, pelican at bottom of hill) thereby affecting vehicular traffic flows. If access to the building is to be primarily pedestrian – where is the plan for the upgrading of the walking routes? What effect will this have on traffic flows?

Without major improvements in the lengthy walking route, Pier Road is doubtful as an alternative parking facility for Green Street. Extra pressure will be placed on Snow Hill and La Route du Fort.

Considerable  concern  is  expressed  regarding  lack  of  parking  facilities  within  the development for Honorary Police, advocates, translators, probation officers, medical staff appropriate adults etc. called to attend Police HQ – sometimes urgently. Such external support is vital for the successful policing operation, and to omit facilities for these  personnel  to  attend  satisfactorily  leads  the  Roads  Committee  to  a  strong recommendation that this be addressed.

This site is just too small and all the problems identified by the Roads Committee will be very hard to address if not impossible.

Transport and Technical Services' position

Transport and Technical Services is the States Department responsible for parking strategy and parking management and control. Jersey Car Parking is our self financing trading arm.

As well as providing parking control and the 81 areas of public parking all over Jersey we  also  run  the  5  multi-storey  car  parks  in  town,  including  Green  Street  which primarily provides commuter parking. This car park is a combination of multi-storey and an open air ground floor parking. The new police headquarters is proposed to be built in the outside area of this car park. The multi-storey section will continue to operate as now.

TTS is a statutory consultee for planning applications and as part of this work we regularly offer advice to developers during the design stage. When the proposal was put forward, we examined the implications to the parking in this car park and to the broader issue of parking in St. Helier .

Green Street car park currently has 608 spaces. The proposed scheme will mean the loss of 91 of those spaces. From Monday to Friday the car park is more or less full during the daytime but on Saturdays there is spare capacity. The loss of spaces will therefore only really effect commuters.

In assessing the impact of the development, we needed to look at the consequences of the loss of these 91 public spaces and how that could be managed, as well as the parking needs of those employed and visiting the police station.

Firstly looking at the needs of the police:

The States of Jersey Police have undertaken a travel survey.

This identified that a 40 staff currently travel to work by motor-bike and 41 by bicycle. It has been made an essential requirement of the development that adequate bike  and  motorbike parking is provided  in the immediate  area  to  encourage  and increase these modes of travel. Actions that support our Sustainable Transport Policy.

The survey also indicated that up to 75 staff currently travel to work by car. However, currently some of these staff make private parking arrangements and it is believed that may well continue to do so.

The management of the States of Jersey Police have expressed a commitment to introducing policies which reduce the impact of staff travel on Green Street car park. Prior to occupation, they will develop a comprehensive travel plan which will include objectives to encourage sustainable travel including reducing journeys by private car and increased use of public and other forms of transport.

Disabled parking would be provided on site at the new building.

Visitor Parking for the Police HQ would be provided at Snow Hill car park. Three short-stay places will be allocated.

Looking at the broader impact of the loss of the 91 car parking spaces as well as any new demand from the Police HQ (which as I mentioned is likely to be no more than 75) this can easily be accommodated in Pier Road which currently has 250 free spaces on a daily basis.

The project also has a contingency plan, should any unforeseen problems occur, the SOJDC could be asked to bring forward providing 150 additional temporary spaces on the Waterfront at short notice.

Shopper and nearby residents  parking  in  the  evenings  and  weekends  will  not be affected as there will still be plenty of capacity for that at Green Street.

The States have a longer term strategy for car parking in town which is embodied in the North Town Master Plan and the Esplanade Quarter Master Plan which will ensure an adequate and appropriate level of parking.

So in summary as there are currently 250 free spaces in Pier Road, there is enough spare capacity to accommodate both the loss of the 91 parking spaces in Green Street – and the increased demand from Police HQ staff of up to 75.

_____________________________________________

From:

Sent:  04 September 2012 12:43

To:  Judith Martin

Cc:   Kevin Lewis

Subject:  RE: parking spaces read out at meeting at town hall

The long term strategy for public parking in St. Helier is embodied within the States' approved Island Plan, Sustainable Transport Policy (STP), North of Town Master Plan and  Esplanade  Quarter  Master  Plan.  Those  policies  and  plans  will  ensure  an appropriate and adequate level of parking.

The North town master plan proposes to replace the 390 public parking spaces lost when the town park was developed, by requiring major private developments in the area to provide public parking. The States housing development at Ann Court will also provide public parking. The four major sites proposed are: -

Jersey Gas, Tunnel Street – 138 spaces

Le Masurier's Site, Bath Street – 210 spaces Ann street Brewery site -110 spaces

Ann Court -185 spaces.

The Masterplan also proposes a redevelopment of Minden Place car park but with 110 public parking spaces retained. The net result of these proposals would be to increase public parking in that area from 680 (pre-town park) to 753 spaces, with a reallocation to favour short stay (shopper) parking.

The Esplanade Masterplan proposes a 1420 space underground car park, replacing the existing 520 space car park  and  providing  an  additional  900  private  spaces. The original Masterplan will  require review following  the  subsequent  approval  of  the

Sustainable Transport Policy, however in the more immediate future, plans are being finalised by States of Jersey Development Company (SOJDC) for a first phase of the Masterplan upon the Esplanade car park, which would provide approximately 188 private spaces associated with an office development and reinstate the existing 522 space car park below ground.

The adequacy of public parking and the balance between short stay and long stay will be subject to review. There are currently typically over 300 spare public commuter spaces (within the ring road) each working day. Whilst an increased level of shopper parking is intended, the number of commuter spaces required can be expected to reduce as the STP achieves modal shift away from private car use. The STP target of a 15% reduction in peak hour traffic is predicted to reduce demand for town commuter car parking by 2000 cars, at least half of which would be from public car parks.

The Island Plan recognises that increasing the quantity of commuter parking would be inconsistent  with  the  goals  of  the  STP,  and in  policy  TT10,  states  that planning permission for new additional off street public parking spaces will not be permitted in the town of St. Helier unless the total level of public off-street car parking provision falls below 4000 spaces (current total after town park 3925), or where the provision of public off-street space is provided in lieu of the loss of private off-street parking provision.

I hope that this answers your question, but again if I can be of further assistance please do not hesitate to return to me.

COMMENT OF DEPUTY J.A. MARTIN OF ST. HELIER: MANY OF THE ABOVE HAVE NOT BEEN BUILT OR EVEN STARTED. ANN COURT IS A FLAT  TARMAC  SPACE  WHICH  REPLACES  THE  SPACES  LOST  AT  GAS PLACE. NO PARKING HAS BEEN PROVIDED AT GAS PLACE, THE OTHER TWO PROPOSED SITES ARE PRIVATE PARKING.

_____________________________________________

From:  Judith Martin

Sent:  04 September 2012 10:44

To:

Cc:   Kevin Lewis

Subject:  RE: parking spaces read out at meeting at town hall

Thanks for this but this does not have the detail of the car park spaces to come that you mentioned I think you where quoting from the North of Town master plan would be grateful if you can supply these again for me

Kind regards Judy

_____________________________________________ From:

Sent: 04 September 2012 10:01

To: Judith Martin

Cc: Kevin Lewis

Subject: RE: parking spaces read out at meeting at town hall

Dear Deputy ,

Thank you for your message, please find attached the Transport Impact Assessment for proposed new Police HQ which has been submitted to Planning as part of Property Holdings' planning application. As part of the determination of the application, TTS will be invited to comment on this study by Planning.

 << File: Green St Planning[1].pdf >>

All  the  documents  that  make  up  the  application  can  be  found  at https://www.mygov.je/Planning/Pages/PlanningApplicationDocuments.aspx?s=1&r=P /2012/1005