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WQ.112/2025
WRITTEN QUESTION TO THE MINISTER FOR INFRASTRUCTURE BY DEPUTY I. GARDINER OF ST. HELIER NORTH
QUESTION SUBMITTED ON MONDAY 10th MARCH 2025 ANSWER TO BE TABLED ON MONDAY 17th MARCH 2025
Question
"Further to the adoption of P.51/2024 Amendment 23 as amended, will the Minister advise the total amount that has been allocated for the development of St. Helier Neighbourhood Improvement Area programmes in 2025?"
Answer
The entire forward public realm programme – £2.5 million per annum – is committed to projects within the town of St. Helier . These are guided by the Island Plan's St. Helier Public Realm and Movement Strategy, which provides a strategic framework for managing and developing St. Helier 's streets.
Further to this work, Amendment P.51/2024 to the Government Plan 2025-2028 requests:
"Across the period 2025-2028, up to £500,000 within the Infrastructure Rolling Vote (Public Realm) will be used to support St. Helier 's Neighbourhood Improvement Area programmes, provided that additional matching funding is contributed by the ratepayers of the Parish of St. Helier to meet the costs of the relevant projects." [Emphasis added]
Additionally, a separate Amendment has requested an £100,000 contribution towards developing a West of Island Planning Framework.
All expenditure from the Infrastructure Rolling Vote (Public Realm) is subject to affordability. As requested by the Assembly, in the absence of detailed information Infrastructure & Environment has currently made a notional provision for these contributions of £310,000 within its Long-Term Capital Plan, spread across the 2025-2028 period. The exact amount will be determined by the schemes brought forward and could be increased to £500,000. However, the current allocation and any increased amount will impact the currently planned programme of improvement works in St. Helier , potentially delaying or extending the period required for improvements to key areas such as the town centre, its connections to gateways such as Charles Street Car Park, Markets, residential neighbourhoods and St Helier's parks.
For the funds to be released, three conditions must be met:
- A parish scheme must be agreed upon;
- Match funding must be voted by ratepayers;
- The programme must be deemed affordable over the period.
While Public Realm projects provide better streets and spaces for the town community, they rely upon civil engineering enabling works. Civil engineering works are also subject to practical constraints, including time, resource capacity, and coordination with utilities and stakeholders. Works to change the use of public roads such as neighbourhood improvement zones can be complex, requiring community engagement, design, procurement, and scheduling considerations. Typically, moving a significant project from prefeasibility to construction would be expected to take 12 to 24 months.
Discussions with the Parish are ongoing as to which schemes should be brought forward but these have yet to be concluded.