Minister: St Helier were “masters of their own destiny” in Clinton case

Tuesday 28 November 2017

Official documents have emerged which it's alleged show it was the Parish of St Helier that had the final say on safety plans for a road where a toddler was killed last summer.

Three-year-old Clinton Pringle was run over by a van on Tunnel Street last summer, as he crossed the road to Millennium Park while on holiday in Jersey with his family.

Driver Rebekah Le Gal was handed an eight-month suspended sentence for causing Clinton’s death following a trial which opened up a series of questions over whether the road layout could have played a part in the youngster’s death.

The area, which was created at the same time as the Millennium Town Park, is in a ‘shared space’ format where there is little distinction between pavement and road. 

Pictured: The controversial 'shared space' area where Clinton was run over by van driver Rebekah Le Gal was strongly criticised by Michael Pringle, Clinton's father.

In a statement following the court case, Clinton’s father, Michael, claimed that the town planners responsible for the design had “blood on their hands.”

In the months’ following his comments, however, reports unearthed by Express revealed that safety measures such as automatic rising bollards that would have restricted vehicle access to the area in which young Clinton was killed had been considered. 

One of those reports was an £700 audit conducted on behalf of international firm Parsons Brinckerhoff in March 2011, which reviewed safety issues that would need to be addressed if bollards were to be installed in Tunnell Street. Copies were provided to the Police and Deputy Viscount following Clinton's death.

But for reasons that remain unclear, those bollards were never installed.

Since the revelation, debate has raged over whether that responsibility ultimately lay with Transport and Technical Services (TTS) – as Infrastructure was then known – or the Parish of St Helier’s Roads Committee. 

Pictured: Extracts from the Parsons Brinckerhoff report published by the Infrastructure Minister, which show safety features being considered for the area where Clinton was killed. They were never implemented.

Following repeated questioning from St Helier Deputy Geoff Southern, the Minister for Infrastructure Deputy Eddie Noel has now released a set of documents that he says show that St Helier Constable Simon Crowcroft and the St Helier Roads Committee were responsible for the road.

Those documents, which include emails, meeting minutes and the full Parsons Brinckerhoff report, were able to be released after it was confirmed that they would no longer be needed as evidence in an upcoming inquest into Clinton’s death.

They detailed how TTS had primarily funded the park’s construction, while the Parish took on responsibility for the surrounding roads. Deputy Noel claims that this agreement was never in dispute. 

Notes from a 2012 Roads Committee reveal tensions between the Parish and TTS over who should cover the road costs, however. Several Committee members recorded their “dissent” when asked to pull more money out of the Parish budget to fund roadworks.

Asked whether it was the case that his department had removed funding to implement the rising bollards, Deputy Noel confirmed that “it was never provided for” because his department were not responsible. He added that the Parish had indicated their agreement.

Pictured: The Minister for Infrastructure (left) has firmly pointed the finger at the Constable of St Helier (right) and the Parish Roads Committee in response to questioning from Deputy Geoff Southern over who made the decision to discard the Tunnel Street road safety plans.

The Minister commented: “The Parish of St Helier Roads Committee is the responsible authority and is the only body that can direct changes to its roads layout or operation, all implementation work on the roads was commissioned and funded by the Parish… the division of funding was the result of a negotiation between the Connetable of St Helier and TTS. We cannot speak or answer for the Parish. As a St Helier Deputy, we can only suggest that the Deputy makes enquiries of the Connétable, the Parish Procureurs and the Parish Roads Committee.

“It is clear that the responsibility for work on the Parish Roads was with the Parish of St Helier, and that authority for additional funding was going to be sought by the Parish Officials. The decision as to how that funding could then have been allocated rested with the Parish.”

He later added: “The Connétable and the Parish’s Roads Committee were the masters of their own destiny in this matter.”

Despite the revelations, Express understands that the inquest is intended to be 'future-focused' and will therefore not consider the circumstances surrounding the road’s design and implementation.