New Hospital “will be a £1 billion project”

Thursday 08 October 2020

The new hospital at Overdale will cost the taxpayer more than £1 billion, according to a former Environment Minister.

Despite the “get it done” attitude of many politicians and islanders, Deputy Steve Luce says he still has deep reservations about the hospital being built at Overdale, which was announced as Ministers' preferred option on Tuesday.

States Members will formally vote to approve or reject the site in November.

A Government report published after Deputy Chief Minister Lyndon Farnham announced the decision on Tuesday set the total cost of the project as around £804m: £550m on construction and £254m of extra costs, such as demolishing the existing hospital.

The report itself conceded that this final cost is likely to rise.

Pictured: Deputy Steve Luce said Overdale is "slightly less worse than the People’s Park".

“At the end of the day, it will be a £1 billion project, which is something I’m sure that Scrutiny will be keen to look into,” said Deputy Luce. “I appreciate that this has been a long-running saga and there is a feeling that we need to get on with it but that does not mean that we should choose Overdale because it is slightly less worse than the People’s Park.

“The new plan is for a number of low and wide blocks so the clinical adjacency is not going to be good; nowhere near as good as if you have four or five floors connected by lifts.

“Also, it’s going to be a challenge for highways because we know the roads are very narrow and inaccessible, especially from the north, which has graveyards on either side."

Deputy Luce still believes that the current site is the best for a new hospital.

“The problem in the past was that we were simply not brave enough. Yes, the first proposals were rejected by an independent planning inspector, but it’s normal that you don’t get a project of this size and scale right first time," he continued.

Pictured: Deputy Luce still believes that the current site is the best for a new hospital.

“Yes, we made some serious mistakes with the two applications we put in for that site, but there was absolutely no way that we couldn’t have got over the problems with Gloucester Street and built a fantastic hospital there, without the access difficulties, highway network problems and environmental obstacles that Overdale has. It also would also be a place where the public can easily get to by foot, which is really important.

"If they decided to go an stick it on the current site, the old plans could be dusted off, a more suitable hospital could be built there just as quickly as up at Overdale. I know there will be people who will argue that is not the case, but we were already well advanced before this government stopped the current site going ahead and I’m sure we could move forward very quickly if necessary.” 

Deputy Luce said he was not yet sure of how he would formalise his opposition to the Overdale site and preference for Gloucester Street. He said he had considered proposing an amendment to Deputy Trevor Pointon's plan to add Warwick Farm and St Saviour's Hospital to the shortlist, but this was withdrawn after Tuesday's announcement. 

"We will see but ultimately it will be a political decision," he said. "The Council of Ministers have made their choice and now it is time for some political input because that is how democracy works."