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Letter - to Minister for Economic Development re New Skate Park - 5 February 2021

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States Greffe: Scrutiny

Senator Lyndon Farnham

Minister for Economic Development, Sport and Culture By email

5th February 2021 Dear Minister

Economic and International Affairs Scrutiny Panel New Skatepark

I write following the briefing held earlier today regarding the new skatepark. As you are aware, we wrote to you last month asking a number of questions on the project particularly given its change in direction with South Hill being the preferred option for the site.

Since we wrote that letter, a consultation exercise was undertaken by your Department in order to gather the public's views on the preferred site. Your Department consequently offered to provide the Panel with a briefing on the consultation exercise and the process followed in determining the preferred site. As we mentioned during the briefing, we had requested copies of  the  survey  questions  and  any  other  documents  which  might  have  assisted  our understanding of the project prior to the briefing, but unfortunately, we only received these documents afterwards.

During the briefing we asked a number of questions about the project, the consultation exercise and the way forward if your amendment to P.1/2021 Skatepark at Les Quennevais Sports Centre' is approved by the Assembly. In order for the matter to remain as open and transparent as possible, we believe it would be helpful to the public and States Members if you could provide answers to the following questions before the debate on Tuesday 9th February:

  1. Breakdown of costs

Please could you provide a breakdown of the costs identified for the Les Quennevais site and the South Hill site? The breakdown should include costs for the primary skate park facility, the satellite facilities, professional fees and project management.

Please could the information also provide any matters which have not been factored into the costings such as public facilities (toilets), parking/drop off zones, planning costs and safety mitigations.

  1. Planning and heritage matters

Please could you confirm whether you have received any preliminary concerns regarding planning or heritage matters in relation to the South Hill site?

During the briefing we asked some questions about the La Collette safety zone and were advised that the Department received some independent advice on this matter. We believe that it would be helpful if this advice was published.

  1. Consultation exercise

During the briefing we asked about the consultation exercise undertaken and noted that the most recent survey ran from 15th to 26th January and received over 2,500 responses. Please could you provide a further breakdown of how many of the "Les Quennevais neighbours" respondents were concerned about the site being located at Les Quennevais and how many of the "South Hill neighbours" were concerned about the site being located at South Hill.

We look forward to receiving your response no later than 8th February. Please note that we intend to publish this letter and your response on the States Assembly website.

Yours sincerely

Deputy David Johnson

Chair

Economic and International Affairs Scrutiny Panel

States Greffe | Morier House | St Helier | Jersey | JE1 1DD Tel: 01534 441080 | Fax: 01534 441077 | email: scrutiny@gov.je