“I am hugely disappointed and frustrated”

Saturday 20 February 2021

A former Muratti player has been left “hugely disappointed and frustrated’ after the Infrastructure Minister, who signed his planning application, said his proposals for five-a-side football pitches at FB Fields could not go ahead as they they in breach of a covenant.

James Scott, the Manager of the Parishes of Jersey Football Club and owner of JsFives, had hoped to transform the netball courts at FB Fields, which were resurfaced in 2015 and haven’t been in use since.

Mr Scott was hoping to lease the facility from the Government with the facility being made available for free for local schools, with islanders and sports club able to hire it.

Over 2,200 people signed the petition he had created “to ensure the land can be used by the public for the purpose intended”.

Pictured: Infrastructure Minister Deputy Kevin Lewis revealed a lease would be in breach of the conditions imposed when the land was gifted to the public.

But in his response to the petition, Infrastructure Minister Deputy Kevin Lewis revealed the Government couldn’t grant the lease as it would be considered a breach of the conditions imposed when the land was gifted to the public. 

“The piece of land in question was gifted to the Public in 1961 by the owners of a neighbouring property known as 'Peverell' (now known as 'Villa d’Azette') situated to the west of the site and various conditions were created in the contract,” the Minister wrote. 

“Since that time, the site of 'Peverell' has been sub-divided and there are now seven owners who are entitled to claim the benefit of the restrictive clauses.”

One of the condition states that “one sole building or pavilion with changing rooms and appurtenances for use of the players” should be built on the land. 

Deputy Lewis added that he majority of the beneficiaries of the covenant have expressed their objection to the planning application, suggesting that "the Public would be challenged to obtain approval from all of the property owners in respect of amending the restrictions”. 

Pictured: Deputy Lewis had signed the Planning Application last August.

Mr Scott told Express he was left “hugely disappointed and frustrated” by the response, especially since Deputy Lewis himself had signed his Planning Application in August 2020. 

In addition, he said that the breach of the conditions had never been mentioned during his various meetings with Jersey Property Holdings (JPH), which is responsible for all public-owned land and buildings, over the last two years, leaving him questioning whether the Minister and JPH were aware of the covenant at all.

“I find it hard to believe that when the previous application was made in 2014, when the area was resurfaced, the breach was never mentioned back then,” Mr Scott said. 

“I have been left scratching my head about why they are only mentioned now.”

Mr Scott said that Deputy Lewis had signed off his Planning Application “to test the planning process before giving him a lease on the land”, he argues that it wasn’t until neighbours submitted letters to the Planning Application that the Minister and JPH became aware of the covenant.

I’m disappointed, frustrated and angry at the Ministers @Deputy_Lewis and @HughRaymondJsy response to my 5-a-side football petition. https://t.co/6H4MCBqLre

How do the other 2,295 people that signed in support feel about it?

Below is my statement in response. pic.twitter.com/dJ1GlqCHnK

— JS (@JamesScottJS) February 19, 2021

“At the end of the day, I am just a local lad who has a passion for sport who wanted to invest my own hard-earned money to use a facility that was given to the island in 1961 for sports and recreational uses and that has not been used since 2015, I am interested to see when it will be used again,” he said.

“The fact that nearly 2,300 people signed the petition highlights that there is definitely a need for the facility in the island. It’s really hard to hire a facility like this at the moment, it would have been an extra facility and a good solution for a currently unused facility.

“I can only apologise to the local community who are just as frustrated as I am.”

Mr Scott says that the Minister has, however, offered to work with him to find another facility.

“Let’s hope that the football community gets what they deserve,” he said. “If my plans have helped highlight the fact the facility hasn’t been used and it gets used for another sport that will be absolutely fantastic.”