ON the eve of a debate which could change the face of St Helier, a row has erupted between WEB and group of surveyors who say sinking the Avenue to rescue the Waterfront is unnecessary.
The lobby group, which is made up of leading surveyors, developers and property specialists, claims that States Members are being ‘spun’ into supporting the £45 million project.
On Tuesday the States will discuss plans to sink Route de la Libération from the Grand Hotel to the underpass to allow a huge development of office blocks, shops, a car park and a winter garden. The aim of the project is to try to bring town closer to the Waterfront so that more people will use it.
WEB director Steven Izatt (pictured) has upset the lobby group by writing to all States Members and discrediting the submissions made by the group, who say that the road does not need to be sunk in order to save the Waterfront.
Article posted on 31st May, 2008 - 9.59am
6 Article Comments
who will benefit from this no cost
to the taxpayer will it be the builders
wiil the old town become a ghost town
i think leave it as it is
Climate change figures the States like to quote suggest a 70cm sea level rise by 2070, plus of course increased storm surges. Thats based on the Hadley Centre study using models and data from around 2002.
I have reason to believe not a few of our States members are interested in boats. So at least one or two of them must have been down to the harbour and marina and observed how close to the top the sea gets on a high spring tide. Two feet added to that and what do you have: a flooded area at least as far as the town church and right through the current underpass. Just a foot might do it, six inches even with a big swell or strong wind. So now we are looking at that happening regularly by 2020 or thereabouts.
That 70 cm figure was a good guess based on the models and data available on 2002. But things have changed. Reports like the big melt (www.carbonequity.info/docs/arctic.html ) shows that ice is melting many many times faster than was predicted back then. Clearly sea levels can be expected to rise much quicker too. So how long would you give a sunken road?
My advice to Mr Cohen: forget about underpasses and developments on the lowest parts of the coast and look to improving sea defences before you have a sunken town. Even better spend your energies on getting this climate madness under control NOW.
Typical Jersey, moan moan moan.
Must everything in Jersey be preserved in aspic, throughout history the town has developed and shifted.
Bury this road, its the right thing to do in the long term.
Anyone who loves Jersey, native or new-comer, should use their vote FOR ONCE and reject any pompous, overblown, grandiose schemes for the the waterfront.
Surely its obvious that all such schermes exist only to enrich the companies and politicians involved, and have NOTHING to do with the future well being of Jersey or it’s people?
One simply has to ask - has the Sates of Jersey EVER been able in the past to deliver well planned, economical, beautiful, useful, and wholly necesary large scale projects in the past? Look to the gruesome eco and aesthetic disaster of the harbour reclamation for an answer.
WHY DO YOU THINK THEY SHOULD BE ALLOWED TO DO IT AGAIN?
Additionallty, INTELLIGENT planners know the lessons learned from nearly every UK town & city in the last 20 years - that you allow massive development the near edge of towns and cities AT YOUR PERIL - they will KILL the existing historical heart of the town, and decimate once vibrant and diverse high streets and businesses as new business ansd customers DRIVE AND PARK to the new areas.
DON’T LET THEM DO IT!
The aims of the scheme to “bring the waterfront clodser to town” are of questionable value, simplistic and without context, as well as having no future basis on which to judge their effectiveness.
THROW THEM OUT!
As Ice displaces it’s own weight in water, the sea level will stay exactly the same even if the Arctic melts completly. It’s only when there is significant melting on the LAND of the Antartic rather than the sea ice sheet that tidal levels will rise.
Hewjars,
The big melt report says the Greenland ice sheet melting has speeded up. That is on the land so will speed up sealevel rise compared to the predictions based on the Hadley Centre stuff.