Court refuses taking ‘Battle of Bellozanne’ to UK

Wednesday 07 June 2017

Plans to take the Parish of St Helier’s fight for free waste disposal all the way to the UK Privy Council have come to an abrupt halt after the Court of Appeal concluded that their argument over a decades-old contract was not, “…of general public importance.”

The row goes back more than sixty years to 1952, when St Helier struck a deal – known as the Bellozanne Covenant – whereby it sold land at Bellozanne to the States to build a waste incinerator. In exchange, it was agreed that St Helier residents would not have to pay for getting rid of their rubbish.

However, last September, the Department for Infrastructure sought to introduce charges to businesses for the disposal of waste, threatening the historic agreement.

The Parish of St. Helier unsuccessfully fought in defence of the covenant in the Royal Court, and then challenged their rejection in the Appeals Court, but lost on both occasions.

Parishioners voted in February to continue that fight, taking it to the UK Privy Council – a move that Constable Simon Crowcroft had hoped would encourage the States to negotiate a fair price in compensation – but it was last week announced that this might not be possible.

Pictured: St Helier Constable Simon Crowcroft, who had hoped to take his fight to the UK Privy Council - unless the States agree to pay up to £500,000 in compensation.

In attempting to convince the Court of Appeal to allow them leave to appeal and a stay of costs, the Parish argued that the issue was, “…highly important to a large number of property owners in Jersey; and, because of its relevance to the ‘user pays’ system of refuse disposal, to have a substantial economic impact both generally and in particular upon the rate payers of the Parish (who resolved in a parish meeting that leave to appeal should be sought).”

While Court of Appeal judge John Martin QC said in his judgement that the Parish had raised “arguable points of law”, he concluded: “We do not, however, think that they are points of general public importance.”

The Court also denied the Parish’s application to defer paying the legal costs incurred so far, which are in the hundreds of thousands, stating: “No reason for making such an order was advanced by the Parish in its submissions relating to leave.  There is no question that the Public will be able to repay the costs if in the end an appeal is permitted and allowed.  In our view, no special circumstances exist to justify a stay.”

The Parish’s last hope now lies with the Judicial Committee to determine whether they should be allowed to continue to keep fighting for free waste disposal or to accept the new ‘user pays’ charge and the tearing up of the 65-year-old contract.