Submission - Anonymous 4 - Preferred Hospital Access Route to Overdale - 12 January 2021

The 12th of January 2021.

The Scrutiny Panel. Morier House,

St. Helier ,

JE1 1DD.

REVIEW OF FUTURE HOSPITAL ACCESS ROUTE TO OVERDALE. Dear Members of the Panel,

As you can see from our address REDACTED we are directly affected by the proposed alterations to West Park and Westmount.

Putting aside the long-running fiasco of the selection of the hospital location and the shameful lack of debate in the house when Overdale was finally selected, we should like the following points to be taken on board in respect of the proposed preferred route.

1. We moved into our brand new flat on Liberation Day 2018 and its purchase represented not only a combined ninety years of work to be able to afford it, but also quite a personal triumph for us that in late middle age we were finally able to own a property in Jersey. Our beautiful home has a view of the People's Park and until Covid 19, we happily participated in and enjoyed such local events as the Portuguese Fair, the annual circus and Battle of Flowers funfair etc. which took place in sight of our flat, and which as Jerseymen we had anyway previously supported over the years. Traffic disturbance as such is currently minimal on Westmount Road, which is a semi-rural lane carrying local traffic only and the only noise that we generally hear is the happy sound of children and their parents enjoying the playground facilities just across the road. The plans we have seen double the width of Westmount Road, destroy a charming long-established bowls club and infiltrate onto part the "saved" People's Park, removing much needed local parking on the park's perimeter. This will be replaced with the frightening ideaof a third lane of traffic between Triangle Park and People's Park. This will wantonly destroy whatever remains of West Park as a fairly attractive part of St. Helier and most of all will impact on our personal home life and environment in a way that we thought had all but disappeared when the park was saved and which makes our hard-earned expenditure of £500,000 on our retirement home a complete and utter waste of money. All those years of work for this. We are devastated and that is not an over-reaction.
2. When Overdale was selected, the salvation of the People's Park and the area of West Park seemed finally assured especially as prior to that, the proposed entry to the hospital was intended to be through the existing George V Cottage Homes. Out of the blue this was changed with no public warning and Senator Farnham produced the Westmount option as a faitaccompli. Despite the obvious advantages of St. Aubin's Road (wider road, scores of buses in each direction) and in spite of the sad loss of the cottage homes (which can be replicated elsewhere) the entire hospital project now relies on the destruction of West Park and Westmount Road. I was told by Sen. Farnham that the cottage homes route was dropped owing to the topography. Then the next excuse was to preserve the cottage homes and now ROK tell us in what they term a "consultancy" zoom meeting, that the traffic junction at First Tower is entirely to blame! As if nobody could adjust the traffic light sequencing! See our comments on traffic flow in ¶3.

3. The obvious "grasping at straws" shown in recent reports in respect of access up Westmount Road which included a funicular, a cable car and a type of ski- lift which would drag loan bicycles up the hill amply illustrates the complete lack of planning or foresight that has gone into this project. These are more than risible and are an insult to all. A couple of tethered helium balloons alongside the Pavilion flats or a helicopter service from the roof of the Liberation Bus Station must surely also be considered? There seems to be a conviction that all traffic will come up from St. Helier when in fact many hospital users will come from the north-east and north-west of the island and these would almost certainly approach from the north having come through the parishes but we understand no traffic research has been done on current hospital traffic patterns!
4. The entire hospital project throughout its life has been foisted onto the public of Jersey by certain States' members whose agenda is unknown. Whatever the public suggested has by and large been ignored, and the project and some of the States' members responsible past and present, are tainted by a lack of transparency. This seems to be the New Way. This also helps explain the vast disconnect between Jersey's government and its people.

We apologise for any emotive language and irrelevant points but we cannot stress enough how upset we are at this situation. So much so that we shall never again vote for any of the present members of the House and for the first time ever, we are considering following friends and leaving our island home permanently,