Government denies early South Hill skatepark construction work

Thursday 11 February 2021

The Government has denied quietly making an early start on skatepark construction at South Hill, instead explaining that vegetation is being cleared from the rock face as part of investigations into the site.

It comes after islanders sent the Environment Minister images of fencing around the South Hill area, which is Grade II listed, sharing concerns that works that could damage the area were being undertaken without appropriate permission.

The Environment Minister said that he then raised the concerns with his team, and that an investigation was launched into whether appropriate planning permissions for the work had been secured.

Pictured: The images, taken earlier this week, show fences being put up around areas of South Hill Gardens. 

“It is included in one of our live compliance cases and part of the team have asked for a retrospective application for it,” Environment Minister Deputy John Young explained to Express.

Although he said that he did not have the full facts, he noted: "...clearly something has happened here that has raised a compliance issue and I made sure when that was brought to my attention to that I brought it to the attention of others in the organisation.” 

Responding to questions from Express, Government officials confirmed that the work being undertaken was not construction work as feared, but investigative.

Pictured: South Hill Gardens has been a point of controversy across the past month, with a number of arguments against building a skatepark on the site.

“Infrastructure, Housing and Environment (IHE) have not begun construction of the skatepark, but have cleared vegetation on the rock face at South Hill to aid site investigation work," a spokesperson said.

“This exposed the lack of any barrier along the footpath, and hence a temporary fence being erected for garden user safety. 

“IHE also assessed the site’s ground conditions in 2020 by digging trial holes, which have since been filled in. Both pieces of work have been necessary to assess the site’s suitability for a skatepark, if the site is chosen."

Pictured: Environment Minister John Young said that he had flagged his concerns to compliance around the fencing.

They added that “the Jersey Electricity Company are also working at the base of the site.”

The South Hill Gardens area has been placed under particular scrutiny across the past month, after proposals to build a skatepark there were unveiled. 

In particular, the site’s 500,000-year-old geological history was brought to attention, with experienced geologist and Société Jersiaise member Dr John Renouf lambasting the plans as a "disaster".

States Members were today due to vote on whether South Hill or Les Quennevais should be chosen as the key site for a new skatepark, but in a last-minute U-turn it was decided that planning applications would be submitted for both sites.

Pictured top: The images sent to the Environment Minister.