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3.16 The Deputy of St. Martin of the Minister for Treasury Resources regarding the re-instatement of Haut de la Garenne
Will the Minister give an update of the work being undertaken by the Officer Working Group established to review the various options for the future of Haute de la Garenne and advise whether the property has been reinstated and if so what was the final cost?
Deputy J.A.N. Le Fondré of St. Lawrence (Assistant Minister for Treasury and
Resources - rapporteur):
Members may remember that the Officer Group was formed to bring forward recommendations for consideration by Council of Ministers. The group met on about 3 occasions and in May of this year reported its initial recommendations to the Council of Ministers. Basically it was agreed that limited restoration works would be carried out and short term uses of the building would be allowed, such as by visiting military groups and in particular the lifeguards. That is really until such time as the long term future is resolved. As regard to the restoration, the building has now been partially restored, such that most of the bedrooms are now usable, as is the majority of
the ground floor and external space. The cost of those particular partial restoration works is just over £31,000. In addition, we have spent about £30,000 in maintaining the security of the site during and immediately after the police investigation. The lifeguards have been based in the building over the summer months and obviously that saves them costs from staying elsewhere and there have been some visiting military groups that have used it on a very ad hoc basis for very short periods of time. I would like to take the opportunity to thank the Connétable of St. Martin and the St. Martin 's police for their support in keeping an eye on the building.
- The Deputy of St. Martin :
The Assistant Minister mentioned the fact that a report had gone to the Council of Ministers in May. Is the Assistant Minister in a position to say if a report came back from the Council of Ministers, because I think he probably agrees that the sooner we can get a long term future agreed the better.
Deputy J.A.N. Le Fondré:
As regards to the long term future, I think I agree with the Deputy of St. Martin, it
would be very nice to get that all resolved. It was essentially a briefing to the Council of Ministers. The decision that was made at that time was essentially to do some short term work, which is the limited restoration works that have been performed, and obviously to allow some ad hoc short term uses of the building from an accommodation point of view.
- Deputy J.B. Fox of St. Helier :
I wonder if we could ascertain what progress if any has been made to re-establish the youth hostel facilities in the Island that was disrupted as a result of the inquiry that was going on and what the likely future is for this re-establishment.
Deputy J.A.N. Le Fondré:
Obviously, the youth hostel facilities are slightly different from the operator that was operating from Haut de la Garenne initially, which was the Youth Hostel Association, and there are obviously other associations as well. My understanding is that
obviously it has caused problems from the Youth Hostel Association's perspective,
but that they were going to be in discussions with representatives from the Officer Group, but in particular Economic Development, to find another location to operate from within the Island. I have to say, because I look at it from a property management point of view, I am not up to speed as to what has happened once it had gone out the remit of Haut de la Garenne. Hopefully that answers the Deputy 's question.