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The Government has said that it is "very much committed" to continuing its partnership with Les Amis - despite withdrawing support for the charity's transformation of the former Hampshire Hotel into specialist homes for people with disabilities.
Les Amis announced yesterday that a new government report had indicated that the Maison Des Amis development — which received Planning approval in November last year — was now too large for the island's predicted future needs.
According to Les Amis, as a result of the recently completed report, the government said that it was unable to commit to commissioning the services due to be delivered at Maison Des Amis due to be built at the Hampshire Hotel which was purchased by the charity for £3.3m.
Pictured: Les Amis bought the Hampshire Hotel in 2021 for £3.3m.
Without this commitment and in the face of rising costs and pressures on the local construction industry, the Board of Directors and Board of Trustees of Les Amis agreed that "the financial risk is too high to justify continuing the development at this time".
The Board described the decision to halt the development as a "difficult" one.
Explaining the government's decision, Andy Weir, Director of Mental Health & Adult Social Care, said that "no previous commitment for future commissioning had been given" but added that the government is "very much committed" to continuing its partnership with Les Amis.
He explained: “Over recent months, the Government has been working jointly with Les Amis to review the proposed service model with reference to the current and future needs of people with a learning disability in Jersey.
"It is important that we commission sustainable future models of care that will meet the needs of the population, and maximise the independence, involvement and choice of people who use services."
Mr Weir added: “Although the Government was aware of the proposed development, no previous commitment for future commissioning had been given at this point.
"We are very much committed to continuing this work in partnership with Les Amis to develop future provision of services, ensuring that these meet the specific health and social care needs for our learning disability population.”
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Pictured top: An illustration of what the new facility was planned to look like. (Morris Architects)
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