How long have the Sea Cadets been waiting to move to new premises and give details of various sites considered

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WRITTEN QUESTION TO THE MINISTER FOR EDUCATION, SPORT AND CULTURE BY THE DEPUTY OF ST. JOHN

ANSWER TO BE TABLED ON MONDAY 20th JUNE 2011

Question

How long the Jersey Sea Cadets have been waiting to move to new premises close to the water and would the Minister provide details of the various sites considered over the last 25 years and the reasons for not progressing with them?

What funds, if any, have been set aside to help relocate the unit; what percentage has been spent and on what?

Given the grant to the Sea Cadets was cut some years ago, are the Army Cadets funded by the Island or the UK?

As the current Sea Cadet Headquarters building is in a poor state of repair, how much is being spent on maintaining this building and is it likely to be pulled down in the near future?

Can the Minister give a provisional a date when the Cadets will have a new Headquarters?

Answer

1. In 1988 a question was asked in the States which referred to looking for a more suitable new site nearer to the sea. Since then several sites have been considered including Les Galots; The Old Lifeboat station; the Territorial Army unit at Mount Bingham and the Albert Pier. The reasons for not progressing these sites have varied but include cost, unsuitability in the view of the Sea Cadets and other needs and priorities for the sites.
2. The search for new premises for the sea cadets has been ongoing since before 1993 when £600,000 was allocated by the Treasury to the (then) Sport, Leisure and Recreation Committee as a capital budget to achieve this aim. 32% of the budget has been spent on fees for plans and drawings of various locations and also advice on contamination of one of the sites. The unspent balance of £407,263 was transferred to Jersey Property Holdings (JPH) in 2006. No further expenditure has been incurred.
3. The Jersey Sea Cadets receive an annual revenue grant of £10,000 from the Home Affairs Department. The newly formed Army Cadets have also received a grant of £10,000 from the Home Affairs Department.
4. The current building has had £13,000 spent on it since Jersey Property Holdings (JPH) took over responsibility. JPH would like to find an alternative use for the site once the sea cadets have been relocated.
5. A site at Les Galots, which forms part of a complex wider scheme, has potentially been identified, subject to planning and funding considerations.

JPH are currently working with the Environment Department to consider the scale and mix of the development of these sites. Once a planning brief has been formulated JPH are required to submit a business case to the Acting Chief Executive Officer to enable the appointment of architects to design and submit a planning application. Only on grant of such consent will the sites be considered for disposal for redevelopment.

This process would take at least a year if all necessary consents can be obtained in a timely fashion with a minimum of a further 18 month construction period if there were no delays. It is therefore difficult to predict but it is unlikely that the Sea Cadets would be in a new headquarters within 3 years.