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WRITTEN QUESTION TO THE MINISTER FOR PLANNING AND ENVIRONMENT BY DEPUTY G.P. SOUTHERN OF ST. HELIER
ANSWER TO BE TABLED ON TUESDAY 29th MARCH 2011
Question
Can the Minister point to any consultation documents or design brief in the last decade which has suggested that the new town park should be fenced off and, if not, can he explain why he is minded to approve railings on the perimeter?
Answer
The Town Park project has been the subject to much informative and useful consultation over the past few years. However it has only been with the crystallisation of those ideas that a formal planning application was submitted indicating the proposed design of the park. .
The design of the Park as submitted and approved includes fencing proposed by the applicant around the children's play areas and practice areas which extended along the north and south sides of the Gas Place part of the site. Therefore 50% of the site was proposed to be fenced in the original park design. It is only the north and south sides of the Talman site that remain open, however the park designer, Burns and Nice feels that the north and south sides of the Tallman site need to have a sense of enclosure. Added to this the consultation response from the Police was clear that there was a strong recommendation that the perimeter of the park be defined by some type of low fencing or hedging. (Consultation response attached)
When the original design was being considered, the roads around the site, (particularly Oxford Road), were for access only. The Parish of St Helier Roads Committee decided only last month to open Oxford Road to through traffic. In these circumstances there is a need to do everything possible to protect children in the park. Hedging alone is unlikely to provide a safe solution as hedging is likely to be permeable. .
I have however asked TTS and Nice Burns to bring forward a range of other options and will continue to examine these in conjunction with the town representatives. It is important to note that the park designers support low railings topped with finials on the north and south boundaries of the Talman site.
