Repair and upkeep required for the Victoria Marine Lake

WQ.268/2025

WRITTEN QUESTION TO THE MINISTER FOR INFRASTRUCTURE BY DEPUTY I. GARDINER OF ST. HELIER NORTH

QUESTION SUBMITTED ON MONDAY 9th JUNE 2025 ANSWER TO BE TABLED ON MONDAY 16th JUNE 2025

Question

"In relation to the repair and upkeep of the Victoria Marine Lake, and further to his statement in January 2025, will the Minister –

1. advise what work has been undertaken since January 2025 and, if no work has been undertaken, explain why not;
2. advise whether any studies have been undertaken into the repair and upkeep and, if they have, commit to making such studies public;
3. indicate what proposals he has received for short-term repairs that would allow the Lake to retain water, including the minimum cost to make the pool viable for safe use;
4. state whether he has identified the most cost-effective long-term strategy to ensure the pool can be maintained and used; and
5. state the annual expenditure on maintenance of the pool from 2021?"

Answer

1. There has been no remedial work on the retaining wall or sluices of the Marine Lake since January 2025. Following an inspection of the site last September by myself, the Assistant Infrastructure Minister, and officers from Jersey Property Holdings, and in response to my concerns over the safety of the pool, warning signs were installed and contractors were approached to determine costs for repair work. The order of magnitude of the costs were deemed to be uneconomical to commission, particularly in light of the fact that the Assistant Minister reported that, when the Parish had a lease on the lake, use was very limited due to the proliferation of sea lettuce.
2. There has been a commercial proposal for annual repair and an assessment of annual maintenance to keep the pool available. The values are commercially confidential but can be made available to the Deputy confidentially. It may be of interest to note that the repairs in 2014 to bring the pool into use again cost £315,000.
3. Proposals have been received and contractors challenged to provide innovative solutions, however, there is little other than simple replacement of granite blockwork and cement capping that will achieve the effect, and it must be acknowledged that the environment, particularly in winter storms, is unforgiving and means that comprehensive works will be required.
4. Given the exciting plans under development for the Waterfront and the need to improve shoreline management and coastal defence, it is anticipated that there will be a diminishing requirement for this feature. In this context, it is currently uneconomical to repair the Marine Lake. It should be noted that there has been a considerable investment in the Havre des Pas pool wall and sluices to provide the facility for sea swimming at low tide, the function originally conceived for the Marine Lake.
5. The pool was leased to the Parish of St Helier until April 2023, and we have no records of parish expenditure. Jersey Property Holdings has made no expenditure on maintenance of the pool since then.

Additional information

To mitigate the risk of undertows being created by gaps in the wall, Jersey Property Holdings are investigating removing a short section of the wall which would remove the risk and could be achieved for a modest sum. A low wall would be retained.