Residents have given the initial go-ahead for a multi-million-pound development of a new parish park in St Saviour.
More than 50 islanders attended a parish assembly earlier this week about the plans to develop two unused fields directly behind the Parish Hall, which St Saviour already own.
Plans include the construction of a children’s playground, a 32-space car park and landscaped gardens – with a café due to be added later.
It mirrors a similar scheme completed on St Martin’s village green in 2023.
At the meeting earlier this week with Constable Kevin Lewis, the electorate overwhelmingly showed support for the scheme and agreed to the use of ring-fenced funds of up to £3.1 million from the Maisons Connétable Ozouf Fund.
The project – which has yet to be officially lodged with the Planning Department – also includes making road safety improvements to surrounding areas, including the installation of pedestrian crossings and access to Birches Avenue.
Explaining the next steps, Constable Lewis said he hoped official plans would be submitted before Christmas and that it had already received pre-planning approval.
Although up to £3.1 million is available, he said he hoped the first phase of the development would cost significantly less than that and come in under £2 million.
The Constable said he hopes the first spade in the ground would be in roughly 12 months’ time, once formal planning approval is received and the tender process to find a contractor had been completed.
Future funding will be needed for the development of a café.
The Constable also confirmed that his parishioners will not see any increase in their parish rates as a result of the new development, as funds could be sourced from other parish income streams.
Reflecting on it receiving the support of parishioners, Constable Lewis said he was “delighted” to be moving forward.