Building restrictions at FB Fields to be removed

Thursday 15 June 2023

States Members have agreed to lift building restrictions at FB Playing Fields, allowing for development of the site.

Members supported a proposition originally lodged by Infrastructure Minister Tom Binet, which would overturn the restrictive covenants preventing the erection of buildings.

The covenants have been in place since the land was gifted to the public by the Boot family in the 1920s. The fields themselves are named after Florence Boot, who helped found Boots chemists. 

In her opening remarks, Assistant Infrastructure Minister Lucy Stephenson spoke of the importance attached to the site by members of the public, calling it a ‘well-used and well-loved facility at the heart of our community’ and an ‘important green lung’ in the built-up area in which it resides. 

However, the assistant minister also spoke of the need to rejuvenate and improve the fields. She stated that facilities such as the changing rooms and groundskeeper facilities were ‘not fit for purpose in the modern day’, and noted the ‘huge potential’ a cycle track going through the site could have for completing the eastern cycle network. 

She added that representatives of the Boot family had been kept up to speed with the proposals and had given their consent. 

She quoted them as saying that ‘provided the use of any new buildings relates to the original use for which my great-grandmother gave the land, then we fully support any changes to the law to vary the original grant’.

During the debate States Members raised concerns that the proposed changes to the law might lead to a privatisation of the fields.

Deputy Rob Ward said that he required ‘reassurance’ that the changes to the law would not lead to the fields becoming ‘yet another arms-length organisation that has to sell its services’, with Deputy Montfort Tadier stating that he ‘wouldn’t want to see any stealthy privatisation or corporatisation of the area’.

Likewise, Deputy Steve Luce expressed his concern that the development of a cycle track through FB Fields would restrict playing space, stating: ‘You can’t have a winger or a full-back coming in for a tackle alongside someone cycling past at 30 or 40 miles an hour.’ 

However, none of these concerns prevented States Members from voting unanimously to pass the proposed changes, with 42 Members voting for the proposition and no one abstaining.

Jersey Spartan Athletic Club had been awarded £580,000 for its proposals to refurbish, improve and extend their clubhouse as part of the government’s post-covid Fiscal Stimulus Fund but the restrictive covenants on the land postponed the project indefinitely. 

The covenants also dealt a blow to former Muratti footballer James Scott’s plans to build two 3G five-a-side courts on disused netball courts at the rear of the changing rooms and stand that run adjacent to the athletics track.

The decision must go before the Privy Council for final approval and an appointed date set for the changes to come into force.