A temporary indoor space for young people will be set up at the vacant Gas Place site, if proposals lodged by a St Helier politician are approved.
Deputy David Warr is calling for the former Gas Place site, which sits beside Millennium Town Park, to be used on a temporary “meanwhile” basis until long-term plans for a new primary school are delivered.
“By the end of 2025, there will be absolutely no free indoor provision in St Helier for 5,000 children,” he said.
“It’s quite extraordinary, and it angers me to think that this is being allowed to happen.”
Deputy Warr said the proposal could feature a skate park or climbing wall, and believes it could be developed quickly without any government funding.
He added: “I believe that it will be possible to raise sufficient funds [to develop the site] through a combination of charitable donations, sponsorship and goodwill.”
The St Helier representative said he supported long-term plans to build a school on the site and to develop a separate youth and community centre at the old Ann Street Brewery, but warned those projects are still years away.
In the meantime, he said the consequences of “a dire lack of provision for our teenage population” are already being felt.
Deputy Warr warned: “The health and wellbeing of our teenage population, which is already problematic post-COVID, is being compromised.”
The Deputy pointed to recent and upcoming closures – Fort Regent, Tamba Park, the town skate park, and Amaizin Maze – as evidence that Jersey’s indoor leisure spaces are disappearing.
“We’ve seen the closure of the town skate park some 18 months ago with not even a meanwhile pop-up alternative – just another plan for an expensive and inconveniently located skate park at South Hill, albeit rather sooner than a refurbished Fort [Regent] or Ann Street youth centre,” he said.
Citing the 2024 Children and Young People’s Survey, Deputy Warr highlighted that 82% of teenagers are not meeting recommended daily activity levels and that 40% of Year 6 pupils in urban areas are overweight or obese.
“The physical cost of obesity and inactivity particularly affects those in low-income families,” he wrote.
Deputy Warr also raised mental health concerns, referencing the 2024 Children and Adolescent Mental Health Service Annual Report and its findings on the increased pressure facing neurodevelopmental services.
“We need to be in the business of prevention now, not in three years’ time,” he said.
Deputy Warr added that families in St Helier are being stretched by the cost-of-living crisis, with few free after-school options available to teenagers whose parents are both working.
“This is exacerbated by the lack of free after-school provision for those aged 13 and older,” he said.
His proposition asks States Members to instruct Treasury Minister Elaine Millar to work with Andium Homes, in her capacity as shareholder representative, to “develop and implement ‘meanwhile’ use of the site that will be beneficial to the community”.