THE States are this week considering whether, in principle, to agree to plans to sink a road on the route currently followed by the underpass and to create a ‘world-class’ financial district that would be called the Esplanade Quarter and would, in theory, lend new vitality to the Waterfront.

As in the case of virtually every development on this scale, there would be major costs as well as benefits, and it is the equation that sets these out in every detail that Members must consider. They must, moreover, look far into the future. As part of the deal the developers would be awarded a lease of 150 years on one of the most prominent sites in the Island.

The advantages of the proposal are easy to identify. The sunken road would at last link the Waterfront with the rest of St Helier. The new financial district would provide the sort of accommodation that high-flying businesses now demand. New flats – numbering 400 – would augment the housing supply.

There would be 1,420 new parking spaces conveniently hidden beneath ground level. All this would be provided free of charge and, at the same time, public funds would be swelled by a minimum of £50 million.

But here are the catches. The Island would be condemned to at least seven years of major disruption while the work was undertaken. There are fears that enhancement of the Waterfront on this scale will turn other parts of St Helier into a ghost town. There must be uncertainty about the quality of what is being proposed until the buildings and associated open spaces are well on the way to completion.

In addition, there must be doubts about the financial structuring of the project. Although it would guarantee the return to the public of at least £50 million, that works out at barely more than £300,000 a year over the proposed term of the developers’ lease.

However, given that any in-principle decision would still have to pass trial by planning application and public inquiry, and notwithstanding the disruption, the possible effects on ‘old’ St Helier and the issue of tying up a prime site for so long for such a small cash return, the scheme offers the best hope of delivering a Waterfront of the quality that the Island has always needed and deserved.

It is nevertheless a sad fact that this rescue operation would not have been necessary if the decision-makers of the past had had a coherent vision of excellence and if the right choices had been made at the right time.