Pressure mounts in Foreshore battle

Wednesday 24 January 2018

Another islander has joined official attempts to stop the States from charging islanders if their properties "encroach" on the sea wall.

Julian Mallinson, who was forced to pay out nearly £20,000 to the States, has now put in an official complaint to the States Greffe about his treatment.

The chartered surveyor nearly lost the sale of his former Greve d’Azette-based apartment complex after he was told to pay up by Jersey Property Holdings (JPH).

After a lengthy process, he agreed to pay a sum of £19,500 for "encroachments" on the disputed Foreshore zone – the vague area between high and low tide, owned by the Queen until 2015.

£3,000 of this related to a set of just eight steps from the sea wall onto the beach, which were approved by both the Planning Department and Her Majesty’s own land administrator while the Foreshore was still in Crown ownership.

Pictured: Mr Mallinson was charged £3,000 for steps that had received the Royal stamp of approval from one of the Queen's representatives.

When he advanced this argument to JPH, however, Mr Mallinson said that they “rolled their eyes at it. They just didn’t want to talk about it.”

Aggrieved with the way he says he was treated by the department, and anxious about the prospect of taking the matter to the Royal Court and the potentially six-figure legal fees it would incur, he backed down.

Nonetheless, he described the moves as “sneaky” and “unfair”, and felt disappointed that his property sale seemed to have been used as “leverage” to make him pay. 

Mr Mallinson’s complaint is now under review. He’ll hear back next week on whether the case will proceed to a hearing with representatives from the Department for Infrastructure, who are in charge of JPH.

He is the second person to have publicly expressed his dissatisfaction at the States’ Foreshore encroachment policy. Alan Luce, who said that he was “bullied” out of £30,000 plus legal costs when he tried to sell his former home, Roche de la Mer in St Clement, has also registered an official complaint.