Submission - Sue Le Ruez - Preferred Hospital Access Route to Overdale - 14 January 2021

14.01.21

Questions

1. Would access have been easier and cheaper to other potential hospital sites? (excluding the People's Park which thousands campaigned to save from development but is now under threat again).
2. Have you carried out a risk assessment for the possibility of landslip of the rock face of Westmount

when excavation and construction commences, should this plan go ahead?

3. Could the construction of the new hospital begin before the proposed access road is built? In other words, is this huge road being built mainly to accommodate building lorries?
4. Why, when it was possible to investigate over 70 possible routes to Overdale, was it not possible to provide a basic drawing of the preferred route - showing the scale of the road around the People's Park and up Westmount and the number of trees, shrubs, paths and banks, which form part of the park, as well as numerous properties that would be destroyed if this plan goes ahead?

Will you now instruct your contractor to provide such a drawing so that the States and the general public will be able to understand the scale of this development?

Please can you answer the questions contained in the above? ie - reveal the size of the road which you intend to have built along from West Park and up Westmount and the scale of the damage which would be caused to properties and the park surrounds?

5. I have seen a diagram in Proposition 167 showing a roadof 12 metres width, including provision for pedestrians and cyclists, but the drawing only shows pedestrians and it is not dimensioned, so itis not clear if it is shared. Are you expecting pedestrians and cyclists to share their section of the road? If so, do you really think this is practical or safe? Do you think this is adequate or to modern standards?
6. Why is the land currently used for car parking on the eastern edge of the park, and the car park by the former Inn on the Park, wanted for this scheme?

7.Ambulances currently travel on a one-way system to arrive at the hospital. Why, therefore, could they not travel one-way either up or down Westmount?

Although over 70 options were put forward, I did not see one which had a one-way system as far as the top of the hill with the road then becoming two-way. While not ideal, and it would require a speed limit, this option would at least have lessened the impact on Westmount and the People's Park. Why was this not considered, or, if it was, why was it ruled out?

8. As I understand it, the original plan was to provide an access route from St Aubin's Road - this is not one I would support either but, on balance, seems to be slightly less destructive than the current preferred access.

I would like to ask why it was discounted and not even put as an option to the States?

It is already a main road, is on a bus route and has good visibility for drivers.

The valley would allow a multi-storey car park and lift to be built without losing the trees to the east and many of the trees on the other side. It would, regretfully, mean the loss of the King George V Homes, some woodland and a small number of trees.

But it would still seem to be slightly less damaging than the current preferred option which I fear would ruin parts of the People's Park and create the equivalent of a motorway around the park and up Westmount, as well as destroy several properties at the top of the hill.

I don't know what the costings are for either option but I suspect that the current preferred one would be more expensive.

9. There is mention in P167 of 'pinch points' on Queen's Road but are there not as many or more 'pinch points' on Westmount? Queen's Road is already a main road and would not therefore require the kind of devastation proposed for Westmount if used as an access road. Please explain why you have not considered this as a realistic option?
10. If Westmount does end up as the main access road, how will vehicles travelling from the north-east, along Rouge Bouillon travel to the hospital? Would it be via Queen's Road or Gloucester Street?
11. Has the historic significance of Westmount been considered? According to Jerripedia, the hill was formerly known as Mont Patibulaire, and then Mont es Pendus, or Gallows Hill, because it was here that criminals were executed in public. The last public hanging took place there in 1829. Not something you might want to dwell on but a significant fact in Jersey's history. Also, this was the place where British troops and militia gathered before the Battle of Jersey in 1781.
12. There were several quarries and a copper mine here. Have these been documented in your site investigation?
13. I realise that wherever the hospital is built and wherever the access is created, some people will be affected.

However, I would like the Council of Ministers to know that my well-being would be seriously damaged if their preferred route goes ahead.

One of the joys of living at Westmount at the moment is walking out of the door to the sight of the People's Park and its surrounds - the paths, the trees, shrubs, greenery - the sound of birds and of very little traffic.

If the plan is approved, I would instead have to endure the noise, disruption and air pollution from the development and from heavy traffic, including diesel vehicles, travelling up and down an enormous road for years to come.

Sue Le Ruez