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The Infrastructure Minister has revealed which projects were due to take place next year but have been delayed, cancelled, or are unfunded – including plans for a new secondary school at Mont à L’Abbé, a specialist accommodation facility for islanders with learning difficulties, and the refurbishment of the crematorium.
Constable Andy Jehan said that his department "is facing considerable challenges on funding".
In a letter to the Chair of the Environment, Housing and Infrastructure Scrutiny Panel , the Minister provided a list of all the Infrastructure projects which were due to take place in 2025 but have been delayed, cancelled, or are unfunded.
Express took a look at the list...
One of the priorities in the 2024 Government Plan was "continuing investment in facilities, including Mont à L'Abbé secondary school and Le Squez youth club".
A total of £23m was set aside over the next four years for the development of a dedicated secondary school at Mont à L'Abbé.
This was increased to £41m in the 2025 Budget.
As part of the previous Government Plan, the Council of Ministers proposed substantial restructuring of plans for the CYPES Estate.
Two new major projects were created: a new youth centre at Le Squez, and a new secondary school at Mont à L’Abbé.
Pictured: The current Mont à L'Abbé secondary school is located within the campus of Haute Vallée secondary school.
The new secondary school is planned to "expand the island’s provision of care and learning for children with moderate to severe learning difficulties, creating an environment tailored to their needs".
"In combination with the primary school, this single campus will create a specialised hub to accommodate learning from ages 0-25 as well as respite care," the plan explains.
Earlier this year, the Government purchased a piece of land for £250,000 which was earmarked for the future development and extension of Mont à l'Abbé School.
The 2.5 acre piece of land is located off Highview Lane in St Helier.
The purchase came with a clause that stipulates that if the Government obtains planning permission within the next 50 years to use the land for residential or commercial purposes, then it must pay the previous landowner – or their heirs – 50% of the increased value of the land.
According to the Government's Budget for 2025, "additional funding is provided for the department for Children, Young People, Education and Skills to undertake a feasibility project associated with the New Schools and Educational Developments including work on a new town-based school on the Gas Place site and the development of Mont à L’Abbé Secondary school."
The project has been on the agenda for many years, and last week, Education Minister Rob Ward said that he aims to have planning permission for a new school in place by the next election in 2026.
However, Constable Simon Crowcroft – who previously spoke out against "town cramming" on a Bailiwick Podcasts episode – has said he would like to see a skate park built there. That idea has received the support of former Housing Minister David Warr, who said that the need for the town school had passed, after recent figures showed that the island's birth rate was in decline.
The previous Government committed to re-providing a learning disabilities inpatient centre following the closure of Aviemore, but were unable to confirm where this would be located.
Aviemore, a five-unit specialist accommodation facility in St Martin operated by the Special Needs Service, was previously used to house individuals "with learning disabilities who have the most complex needs and are in crisis".
The then-Chief Minister Kristina Moore confirmed in February 2023 that proceeds from the sale of the site, which is currently vacant, would form a fund dedicated to improving outcomes for care-experienced islanders.
And it was decided in 2021 that part of the over-65s mental health facility Rosewood House would be converted to replace Aviemore.
But it emerged last year that the capital project has been delayed by Health and Community Services.
Pictured: Aviemore, a five-unit specialist accommodation facility in St Martin operated by the Special Needs Service, was previously used to house individuals "with learning disabilities who have the most complex needs and are in crisis".
The facility has experienced a spate of problems over the years.
In 2019, the home was issued with three orders by the Health and Safety Inspectorate relating to a substantial lack of written policy or procedure in protecting employees from "violent or aggressive incidents" from clients.
Finally it was acknowledged in the 2021 Government Plan that the facility itself was proving a barrier against providing "appropriate and safe care, as well as providing a safe working environment for the staff."
Plans for the facility were eventually put forward in 2022 – but now look unlikely to be realised until at least 2026.
According to the Government Budget 2025 to 2028, the Crematorium "is due for refit and refurbishment to ensure this essential part of the island’s infrastructure can continue to reliably deliver services to islanders".
In the proposed budget, £500,000 was set aside for 2026, with £250,000 for both 2026 and 2028.
This brings the total approved funding to £1m – £3.5m less than the £4.5m approved previously.
The Army and Sea Cadets are currently based at the former Police HQ at Rouge Bouillon.
The Cadets were moved there in 2021 on an "interim" basis after concerns that their former premises at Fort Regent was no longer in a safe condition for their activities.
Previous efforts to relocate the cadets have suffered several false starts over the years.
Noting that the corps' headquarters were falling apart even then, the States Assembly agreed to provide land at St Helier harbour for a new centre for the group back in 2011.
Around £600,000 was set aside for the project, with a quarter of a million spent on planning fees, legal fees and architects for the proposed Port Galots maritime centre.
Pictured: Previous plans for a new sea cadets base.
But plans were pulled in 2015 after thousands of islanders protested against the development in a campaign led by the owner of the nearby Fresh Fish Company.
In 2020, the Government said finding a long-term location was still on the agenda, but that Rouge Bouillon was the "best option" for an interim base.
And in the proposed Budget for 2025 onwards, the Government said: "Funding continues in this Budget for the construction of a new Ambulance, Fire and Rescue Headquarters as well as a new Army and Sea Cadet Headquarters.
"Budgets for these projects have been updated to reflect revised timescales and on-going work to determine the best approach for redevelopment of the former Police Headquarters at Rouge Boullion."
It recently emerged that plans to build a new joint headquarters for the Ambulance and Fire Services at Rouge Bouillon – which were set to be realised back in 2022 – had been quietly replaced with a vision of two separate facilities that is unlikely to be progressed until 2028.
The Director General for Justice and Home Affairs. Kate Briden, said that there had been a “shift in strategy” from previous successive governments which had all backed the idea to create a combined 'Joint Fire and Ambulance Station'.
It had already been agreed that the long-awaited combined HQ would be named after Len Norman, who pledged in 2019, while serving as Home Affairs Minister, that work would start on a new joint headquarters by 2022.
More than £212,000 has been spent on bringing the capital project to life so far.
Pictured: "Decisions need to be made about Gas Place," the Home Affairs Minister said.
The former Home Affairs Minister Helen Miles – who now sits on the Children, Education and Home Affairs Scrutiny Panel – said last December that the project was "on hold" due to "competing demands for the well-located total site at Rouge Bouillon" between Education and Emergency Services.
Further feasibility work and ministerial meetings were supposed to take place in the first half of this year.
Current Home Affairs Minister Mary Le Hegarat, recently told the Children, Education and Home Affairs Scrutiny Panel that creating a new headquarters is part of a bigger "puzzle" and Gas Place – near Millennium Town Park and also earmarked for educational use – is "part of that puzzle".
"We need to be able to work out which part comes first and decisions need to be made about Gas Place. Once those decisions are made, the rest of the puzzle can follow," she said.
The development of the Le Squez youth centre has been reprofiled to allow a new youth facility in St Helier to be brought forward in the earlier years of the Budget, according to the Government.
In the 2025 Budget, the Government said that the new youth centre "will create a new community hub and space for young people in the community to use and enjoy" and provide a "safe place for children and young people to meet and socialise".
One of the priorities in the most recent Government Plan was "continuing investment in facilities, including Mont à L'Abbé secondary school and Le Squez youth club".
As part of the previous Government Plan, the Council of Ministers proposed substantial restructuring of plans for the CYPES Estate.
Two new major projects were created: a new youth centre at Le Squez, and a new secondary school at Mont à L’Abbé.
Feasibility work for both the new classroom black and the student support centre project at Victoria College were both due to commence in 2024.
However, the work has not taken place for either project, and there is no reported spend to date.
In October 2016, a payment of £567,950 was agreed to be spent on a capital project replacing the porta cabins on College Field with a new permanent classroom block.
But the project was put on hold and the money was returned, as it wasn’t enough to cover the costs of the work needed.
In 2018, then-Education Minister Rod Bryans approved another request by the Board of Governors to receive £567,000 instead, on the condition it was paid back in full by 2023.
Fort Regent – instead being progressed by the States of Jersey Development Company
Highlands College and University College Jersey – funding delayed to 2026
Prison Improvement Works – Re-scoped Prison Phase 8
Field Developments & Play Space – re-scoped and cancelled
La Sente Feasibility Study – cancelled
Magistrate’s Court conversion – cancelled
Music Development – cancelled
Morier House refurbishment
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