Battle brewing as poll shows hospital site support evenly matched

Wednesday 09 September 2020

The final battle is on over where the new hospital should be built after an Express poll suggested that public opinion on the two remaining sites on the official shortlist is finely balanced.

More than 3,000 Islanders took part in the online survey this week on whether the hospital should be built at Overdale or The People’s Park.

46% of respondents opted for Overdale, 41% for The People’s Park, and 13% saying that they didn’t support either option.

The survey suggests that those who think that the weight of public opinion is firmly behind the Chief Minister's rumoured favourite Overdale, and the decision is a fait accompli, may need to think again. 

Pictured: The results of Express's poll, which asked for readers' preferred site option.

It has also been suggested that hilltop Overdale will cost 15% more than the lower site, but official financial figures won’t be published until the end of the month.

But despite more than 40% of respondents backing The People’s Park, the site faces a number of obstacles - not least the fact that the States Assembly has already decided that a hospital cannot be built there. 

The park is also owned by the Parish of St. Helier, whose head is vehemently against development on it.

Constable Simon Crowcroft, who successfully got politicians to strike out The People’s Park as a hospital site last year, said he would continue the fight.

Pictured: St Helier Constable Simon Crowcroft successfully asked the States to reject The People's Park as a hospital site last year.

“Ministers are trying to ride roughshod on a decision of the States because they seem to think that any proposal from a backbencher is inconvenient tinkering,” he said.

“The park belongs to the parish and the people of St. Helier. Clearly, I will ask the opinion of the parishioners at an assembly, but I suspect that most of them want it to remain as an open space for everyone to enjoy.

“Unfortunately, the Council of Ministers just don’t seem to understand the importance of green spaces, even after the pandemic.”

The Constable said he would fight to keep the park “by any political and legal means available”.

“Obviously it is down to a decision of the States, but it is a decision the Assembly has already taken, just last year. Can the States Assembly be asked to overturn its own decision with no material difference in circumstances? I will be asking the Attorney General for guidance on that.”

Last February, when States Members decided to rescind the decision to build the hospital on the existing site in Gloucester Street, it also accepted an amendment by Constable Crowcroft which asked them to “agree that the new General Hospital shall not be located at The People’s Park”.

The vote was 24 in favour, 22 against, with two excused. Those supporting the amendment included Environment Minister Deputy John Young, Housing Minister Senator Sam Mézec and Assistant Chief Minister Constable Richard Buchanan. 

FOCUS...

How did we get here?

The start of the saga could be traced back to 2011, when Ministers commissioned an investigation of when, where and how a new hospital could be built.

This had followed a £760,000 report, written by KPMG and taking five months to write, which outlined the costs and implications of continuing with “business as usual”, “living within our current means” or developing “a new model of care”. This was prompted by predictions of rising demand on services caused by the island’s ageing demographic. The report recommended Option 3.

A year later, in 2012, the Council of Ministers produced, and the States Assembly supported, a report called 'Health and Social Services: A New Way forward'. In doing so, they approved “the redesign of health and social care services in Jersey by 2021”. The report explicitly said that: “The hospital itself requires complete refurbishment and redesign or rebuild in the next decade."

Pictured: The States Assembly decided last year to rescind its decision to back the Gloucester Street hospital plan.

Subsequently, it was decided that a brand new hospital was the preferred option. In 2014, Senator Andrew Green became Health Minister with a promise to announce sites within 100 days.

Two years later, following widespread consultation, the shortlist had been whittled down to five, but The People’s Park was ruled out after a public backlash.

Later in 2016, Ministers finally settled on a location: building a new 280-bed hospital on the existing site. This would be a single large eight-story structure behind the existing Grade 1 Listed granite block and be ready to take patients in 2025.

Pictured: A protest against building on People's Park.

The next year, the States approved £466m of funding, £275m of it borrowed with the rest coming from the strategic reserve (the 'Rainy Day Fund').

But in 2018 Jersey went to the polls, and Senator John Le Fondré, who had campaigned on a mandate of re-evaluating the hospital decision, became Chief Minister.

He then tasked a political group led by Assistant Chief Minister of the time, Constable Chris Taylor, with investigating the previous site selection process. Later in 2018, that group would publish an explosive report blowing open the site debate.

Meanwhile, in April of that year, his Environment Minister ordered a public inquiry into the planning application for the existing hospital site.

Last January, the Minister accepted the decision of the independent inspector overseeing the inquiry and refused planning permission.

A month later, the States Assembly rescinded the decision to make Gloucester Street the preferred location. At the same time, it also agreed that any new hospital would not be built on The People’s Park.

Having spent £44.46m so far on the project, the Government agreed to write off £27m of that and set aside a further £7m to get a new project off the ground. Planners went back to the drawing board to identify potential sites. The pandemic delayed this process further.

In July this year, a shortlist of five sites from 82 was unveiled which, last week, was whittled down to two.

What happens now?

Hospital planners and their political masters, after applying a criteria established by a Citizens’ Panel of anonymous Islanders, believe that Overdale and The People’s Park are the two best fits. A key consideration was whether the hospital could be ready by 2026. If it couldn’t, the site was shelved.

The selection process also identified a couple of options: 

Option 1 is building most of the hospital on one site but having a next door site for support services such as training and admin, as well as parking.

Pictured: The Overdale site. The right-hand map indicates the States-owned land that could be developed now. The left-hand map includes extra land that would have to acquired to build the hospital. 

Option 2 is again building most of the hospital on one site but this time digging a basement to house essential support services. There would still be a need for a second site but this could be smaller and further away.

Overdale covers both options, although it includes developing on two agricultural fields. The People’s Park covers Option 2, so just a smaller additional site of 3,590 m2 (half a football pitch) would have to be found elsewhere.

For Option 1, the area of the ground floor of the main hospital is estimated to have to be 23,243 m2, which includes 15% set aside for future growth and 15% for a courtyard. That’s equivalent to just under four full-size football pitches.

Pictured: The People's Park site, which could accommodate most of the hospital, but a smaller site (half the size of a football pitch) would have to found elsewhere for support services, but this wouldn't have to be close.

The ground floor will include A&E, a mental health centre, mortuary and kitchen. Above it, over six storeys, will sit theatres, critical care units, wards, a private unit, maternity and SCBU, renal and other specialist areas.

The next door site (or no more than 50m away) would need to be 17,723 m2, or 2.5 football pitches. This would house non-essential services such as engineering, estate management, administration, a staff centre and around 800 parking spaces over two levels.  

For Option 2, the main hospital site would need to be 22,890 m2, or just over three football pitches. Both options plan for 800 parking spaces.

Figures on how much it will cost to build on each site will be published at the end of next month, with Ministers hoping that the States will make a decision on a preferred site by the end of this year.