From Christopher Scholefield.
C LE Masurier Ltd’s plans for Bath Street are a big step forward… in St Helier’s long march to mediocrity.

The press release trumpets their 175 years as a Jersey company. I have spent much of that time wondering why they have left their properties in Bath Street in such a disgraceful mess.
The company’s website boasts that ‘the Group has substantial resources’, so money was not the problem. Perhaps a little basic maintenance would have weakened the case for the comprehensive redevelopment they now want to beguile us with.

They bought the Odeon cheaply, fully aware of its listed status. It is a curious anachronism: a 1950s building built in a pared down version of a 1930s style because of a minor interruption in the meanwhile known as the German Occupation. Le Masurier’s consultants disagree. They assert that no historical event has been associated with the cinema, which is merely the first built in the UK after the Second World War.

Perhaps someone should inform these experts, who don’t seem to know what country they are working in, that Jersey is not part of the UK and that the events relevant to the Odeon’s arrested development are considered quite important locally.

Just as distressing is the proposed destruction, without so much as a passing mention, of the fine regency style town houses immediately to the south of the Odeon. Their quality shines through the twentieth century rubbish presently tacked on to them, which could so easily be removed.

The revival of Caledonia Place has taught us that fine new public open spaces, this time the Millennium Park, will bring the regeneration of the adjacent buildings.

So what would you rather contemplate from the park, a commanding public building whose story sums up the political and cultural upheavals of the last century and a row of fine town houses, or yet another oversized block of flats, designed without the slightest regard for the buildings of David Place, whose outlook it will ruin?

If you are in any doubt, consider the opulent foliage surrounding the developer’s pretty pictures – it’s a sure sign they are trying to pull a fast one.

How much longer must we wait before the penny drops? If we restore what we have and take our inspiration from it for the gaps in between, Jersey will get a capital fit for purpose.
Le Masurier’s Anywhere-Ville UK approach is a non-starter. The group may have ‘substantial resources’, but a sense of civic responsibility does not seem to be among them.