Two-site hospital plan to be published in spring

Thursday 16 February 2023

A business case for a new two-site hospital could be published by the end of May, the Infrastructure Minister has said.

Deputy Tom Binet also admitted that it is "difficult to answer" how much money may be lost by abandoning the proposals of the previous government to build a new £800m facility at Overdale.

However, during a Scrutiny panel review yesterday, the St. Saviour Deputy said that the majority of the consultations have already been carried out and that ministers are "continuing with the plan" for a two-site model across Overdale and Kensington Place.

Pictured: The single-site hospital plan at Overdale was scrapped after a review led by Infrastructure Minister Tom Binet.

"There is an intention of using Overdale and Kensington Place and the likelihood is that Overdale will be commenced quite a long way ahead of Kensington simply because of the fact that in a very few short weeks when the planning obligations are sorted out, we’ll have a planning permit and we can work backwards with the planning permit," he said.

"We have all the consultations already done, so it just means going back to the clinicians and the people that run the hospital to decide how those adjacencies are going to be divided up and which work will stay at Overdale and which will be put into Kensington Place. 

"We’re hoping to come up with a business plan by about the end of May."

Pictured: Infrastructure Minister Tom Binet.

The Council of Ministers carried out a review into the previously agreed single-site scheme which prompted a change in plans. The review, which was undertaken by expert adviser Alan Moore, recommended abandoning the single-site in favour of a hybrid model that includes Gloucester Street and the adjacent Kensington Place.

Elsewhere during yesterday’s Infrastructure, Housing and Environment Scrutiny Panel hearing, Deputy Binet was asked about the response to the flooding at Grands Vaux, which has seen some islanders warned that they will have to stay away from their homes for months.

Deputy Binet suggested that some homes at Grands Vaux could be rebuilt and raised to prevent flood damage going forward, after a number of Islanders were forced to flee their homes last month as intense rainfall left some properties under several feet of water.

Responding to a question from panel chairman Deputy Steve Luce as to whether the homes could be raised on stilts, Deputy Binet said: "That is something that is being considered by Andium. They’re looking at the houses that were flooded most severely and they are looking at the possibility of – I think there is a small strip of land at the back of those houses that could be developed and then we move forward to redevelop the ones that are sitting below water level.

"That would involve them being raised about a metre-and-a-half and rebuilt but all of these things would take time."

Pictured: Grands Vaux was hit by severe flooding last month.

Andy Scate, Director General for the Infrastructure, Housing and Environment Department, explained that around 10 of the affected properties may not be habitable again for several months.

Mr Scate added: "We are doing an assessment report just to clarify what actually happened, what happened on the day, how did the infrastructure fair or didn’t fair, but I think immediately it is going to be looking at some short-term measures but also looking at medium and longer-term ways of different water management not just for this catchment area, I think it is something that we need to take into account in other catchments as well, we are likely to see more rainfall events hit the Island, we will see bigger, sharper floods and rainfall events – so we have got to become more flood resilient as an island."

Pictured top: Kensington Place, where the government wants to expand the current General Hospital.