The new face of St Helier
Wednesday 22nd December 2010, 2:59PM GMT.
A view of how the Town Park will look as designed by landscape architect Marie Burns
THE design of the £10 million Millennium Town Park has been revealed for the first time.
Islanders have campaigned for a town park since 1997 and now they can see exactly what could go on the site of the Gas Place and Talman car parks, if Planning agree.
The plans include a pétanque terrain, interactive water jets, a café, a story-telling section and children’s and toddlers’ play areas.
Landscape architect Marie Burns, who masterminded the design, said that she had tried to incorporate many of the suggestions put forward by the public during the consultation period.
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Can we have a night time representation too, with drunks staggering on the grass, urinating in the fountains. Junkies shooting up on the benches, people being mugged and drunk drivers trying to park their cars not realising it’s no longer a car park.
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where is the entrance to the underground car park
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The picture of what the new park will look like is very nice. There are two problems that need to be considered before it goes ahead.
This first one is the cost. In these days when our politicians are being accused of overspending on other projects we need to know if this is the right time to spend even more.
The second problem will be the loss of parking spaces. As a pensioner I do not get into town very often as finding a space can be difficult at times and I do not want to walk a long way from a more distant car park. Walking also eats up into the parking time. I cannot carry anything I buy that far anyway. If I use the bus then I have to carry it even further.
As it is there are many of us who already find it too much trouble going into the town and so buy as much as we can on the internet and have it all delivered to the front door at lower cost.
Hopefully the time will come when the interest rates go up again so that I have more income from my savings. Also we will be paying more tax to support such projects. Until then we all need to be very careful with what we spend and that includes the politicians.
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Transport and Technical Services advised that the parking would be provided for at Pier Road and Ann Court- er.. where in Ann Court? apart from private parking costing over £300 per quarter, where is the public parking they talk about? I don’t get it.
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Sorry to say this but the finished project will not look like the picture. (Add dog poo, litter, needles, vomit, broken glass etc.
It will be a legacy which will cost future generations in upkeep, produce no revenue and the loss of parking will cause inconvienience.
Sorry to dissapoint Mr Cohen, but I for one do not want to live in town without a car. We are not talking luxury city appartments like Kensigton and Chelsea for well heeled city types, we are talking family homes for Jersey residents.
Projects like this will always cost money and result in higher taxes.
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I thought the Island already had a story telling section, it`s called the States Chamber.
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Its a shame that no one will go there as there is now nowhere left to park in St Helier.
Anyway, I thought this island was skint, and now we are going to spend £10 million on something that will be trashed in no time. Good old Jersey, useless as ever…
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Why are we spending this money on something that will be wrecked in months when we have a black hole in the treasury?????
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For god’s sake do you have to moan about everything??!!
For once, the states got something right….this is long overdue.
Instead of all the pessimism try looking on the bright side and enjoy it.
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this might show more
http://www.burnsnice.com/projects/community/project.php?id=62
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IT should be called the S.S park after the man who first brought up the idea,or at least dedicated to him-only fair IMO,but of course they wont,the best politician we ever had,and lost.
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It is an absolute political disgrace that this money is being spent on a park. WE have just seen the states make people redundant including nurses…. and the politicians are spending 10 million on grass! The actual full cost for this project is £30 million.. not 10 as they would have you believe.
No car parking is included on the site. Words fail me.
I would have thought the priority should be to provide housing … hospitals.. free school milk.. and education.. to name a few. All of these areas have seen states spending cut. In some cases quite rightly.. however…
This park was only voted for by Senator Alan M’Clean when he wrongly voted for it then saying that it was in fact a mistake. He meant to vote against it.
So we are seeing the states spending another 30 million by mistake. Or is it?
This park could have been built for free.. with parking for 1200 cars. Why wasn’t this offer not taken up?
This is another example of the states spending our money on private contractors for no reason other than it suits them to do so.
Try telling all the people that we need a park after they just lost their jobs before xmas.
Its disgusting the whole island is a park people should use it rather than being lazy and staying in town.
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‘Landscape architect Marie Burns, who masterminded the design, said that she had tried to incorporate many of the suggestions put forward by the public during the consultation period.’
So there will be at least two levels of parking underneath it, then?
R.B.B. Founding exponent of totally raising St Helier to a higher level, with parking beneath.
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I’m all for the park. However, I must say that this picture looks boring. A grass square surrounded by trees – hardly Capability Brown. Not sure where £10m is being spent within this design.
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By some of these comments,some people seem to be negative about anything.I think its great for the people of St.Helier.A green lung in an ever increasing concrete jungle.My only concern is the cost.£10 million seems excessive as there are not even any buildings involved.As it is being paid for with taxpayers money i think we should see a breakdown of the costs-but i won’t hold my breath.
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Gas Place is the only and last site available for a town park,together with the buried dolmen, which if lost to more development, will be gone forever.£10 million will be a small cost to pay for a much needed open space in St Helier.
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11 Blade – bang on, the park is a nice to have not a must have, nurses, doctors, ambulkance drivers are all must haves.
It’s not complicated is it, when we have everything we need we can start spending on things we want. I’ve heard parents say the kids have nowhere to play, is the Parade too far, what about the beach.
This is squandering of taxpayer’s money at a time when we are being squeezed harder with increased GST, social security and general taxation.
Please someone stop this debacle before the hole gets deeper.
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11. Blade
Well said. I couldn’t have put it better myself.
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Unless the Town park is properly policed, walled and gated, it will become a hotbed of social problems.
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Fully agreed with Blade. I cannot possibly comment on how ridiculous an idea this park is.
Why on EARTH is it going to cost SO MUCH MONEY to turn an already abandoned area into a garden?
Surely a couple of trucks filled with eart and some seeds would do the trick? Couple of hundred quid tops?
*Facepalm with a brick*
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Is there some reason the park can not include an underground car park? keeping the tree huggers happy whilst providing parking spaces underneath providing an income that would over time go some way to pay for the maintenance and off set some of the out lay. I do agree it is probably not the best timed project and money could well be spent in other area’s but to be fair I’ve seen far more money wasted on the oversized civil service operating like a headless chickens.
Salty
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We have higher unemployment, The average working person will just about to be able to afford to buy the essentials, A Health service that is sinking slowly but hey we have 10 million to spend on a park Ughhhhhhhhhhhhhhh
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Ann Court—car parking
I have been told in the past that there are Victorian sewers under the flats (that were there)
I trust if an underground car park was built on Ann Court this has been taken into consideration !!!
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From the comments above, the town park looks like it will be another Steam Clock !
And none wanted that either !!!!!
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Somewhere new for the alcoholics and vandals to go. What’s the point on wasting money? This generation don’t care about anything except themselves
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There are some who would have all of town as an indestructible over policed concrete wasteland.
It is only fair that an amount of money is spent on town that equates to the population of town.
Town is where the majority of the poor people live and the population of town is growing as we do not allow the countryside to be developed.
It has also been shown that green spaces in cities actually increase the quality of life for those living near them.
I feel no reason to allow our plans to create a green space in town be controlled by fear.
The people who urinate, vomit, and fight in the park still need to be cared for and need a green space as much as anyone else.
On a positive note I would like to know when I can walk through the park on the way to work and enjoy my helping of green every day.
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The real cost of this will be much more than 10M. Once the States decide that a permanent replacement car park has to be built, the cost will end up at 30-40M.
It is another absolutely disgraceful waste of taxpayers money and could have cost nothing if the states had allowed private developers to build it for free with 1200 spaces underneath. It all beggers belief!
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Is it me or is everyone forgetting that we already have a lovely town park that i have used the last 2 summers i have been here and always find it empty Howard Davis Park??!! We do we need another park when we dont use the ones we have? Or Millbrook Park? Also what about the park area down near the waterfront that has the odd hedges around it which no one uses in the summer apart from the mums who let their children have a play in the fountain? I think another park is a waste of money 10 million could go into hospital funding or for the elderley to help them over the winter months or could be used to clean up certain areas that need some attention!!!
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Just a further point, and I dont live in the area, but at night, Gas Place car park is 2/3 full – Presumably cars belonging to people who live in the area. Do they really want to lose their parking ?
Oh silly me – plenty of space at Pier Road – Its only a half mile walk back with your shopping etc !
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Why oh why is this going to cosy £10m?
We have 1300 unemployed, god knows how many skyving on benefit and a load of free loading drug dealers at la moye.
Couple of foreman, a cattle prod each and a copper with an uzi – or give the TA a run out. Free labour rather than using tts/vanni or whoever was going to charge 10m for a bit of landscaping.
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Jersey you have a parking problem and it will only get worse.Los Angeles has a park called Pershing Square,It has 3 levels of under ground parking 1,200 spaces.Jersey should dig deep with under ground parking and have a park above.Let the Banks and high end residents lease the spaces,
This would open up spaces for locals
Excaved rock could always be used for future dock fill in for repair of sea wall and land fill
Just a thought
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So desperately needed? We have Howard Davis Park, two parks making up the Parade Gardens, West Park, Victoria Park, the Lower Park and the Coronation Park in St. Helier along with the green area on the Waterfront plus the open space of the Royal Square. On the edge of St. Helier we have Millbrook Park.
It would have been more sensible to have enlarged Springfield to become a park alongside the football pitch. This would have better served the inhabitants of the area. It would not, of coure, reduced valuable parking spaces in the centre of town which I suspect is the real reason for its being.
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Before ANY money is spent on this park, may I suggest that as a car park, the facility be closed for a period of six months. At the same time, suspend ALL free parking for States members, because they clearly DO NOT UNDERSTAND the issues affecting residents, visitors and bussineses in St Helier by the lack of adequate parking provision.
Once work starts, I can just see the uproar from those living in the area at the loss of this vital parking facility. It is quite clear from the comments posted on this site that there is very little support for this park.
This project must be suspended until the full implications have been understood.
Traffic reduction will only be achieved in this island by the provision of adequate parking. Get people parked up easliy, rather than they having to drive around all of the time. How many more businesses are going to have to re-locate out of town before the message is understood !
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