Another battle centred on Town Park
Friday 28th October 2011, 2:57PM BST.
St Helier Constable Simon Crowcroft
WITH the long battle to build the Millennium Town Park over, a new battle has erupted – over who should get the credit.
Emails have been flying back and forth over who should be allowed to make speeches at the long-awaited opening ceremony tomorrow.
St Helier Constable Simon Crowcroft said that a small ‘turf war’ had kicked off over who would say what at the three planned separate unveilings.
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Stuart Syvret fought for this park to be built so the credit should go to him and to those who supported him.
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Yes just who should get the credit for delivering this white elephant 11 years too late and at a cost of £10 million in the middle of the worst economic downturn the island has ever seen.
I’d be keeping my mouth shut if I’d had any involvement and staying well clear of the grand opening. Incidentally is it called a grand opening because all the officials attending are getting a grand each for it.
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if they spent more time sorting out the traffic choas down there today then prehaps the surronding businesses might not get so upset with the organisers…………looking forward to my lorry breaking down in the enterance on saturday
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Perhaps Alan Maclean’s ringbinder could be persuaded to say a few words? It certainly deserves as much credit as anyone else.
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Who cares…. it’ll only be used to big themselves up anyway….
How about choosing one of the builders/landscapers that actually did the work?!
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Oh dear, you sad, sad people. Its my idea, no it was my idea, I’m telling my Mummy !! Grow up.
Whats the betting that Ozouf will be making a speech? He seems to be getting involved in everything else at the moment…..just before he announces his intention to run for CM.
Clowns.
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The Town Park was first suggested by ex Senator Stuart Syvret many years ago,he said that we would “never have another opportunity like it”.
He should cut the ribbon,but there is a better chance of me buying a National Lottery ticket in Jersey in the next 10 years.
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CREDIT !#?@’, they should be arguing over who should get the blame for this complete and utter waste of money!
This should never have got the go ahead in a recession when jersey has a budget deficit that we are being forced to fill with ever increasing taxes, just because people are too lazy to walk to the many other parks in St Helier. All this park will do is give mindless vandals a nice, shiny new place to destroy!
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Forget who says what about a bit of expensive, imported grass and stone.
I want to know why the underground car park wasnt built providing badly needed spaces for shoppers and businesses?
Is it because someone already has plans submitted to build a private car park at a nearby site I wonder? Any guesses who and where?
Crowcroft and his cronies have spent many years eroding the number of available parking spaces, widening pavements, narrowing roads, and pedestrianising town to the detriment of everyone – especially businesses which he has helped push to the edge..
Here is one lowly example.
The top of La Motte St used to be wider, and you could park 30+ cars there for an hour to nip to the shops. Its now wider pavements of use to no one and at huge cost to the taxpayer. Multiply those lost spaces by 30 or 40 and thats a lot of spaces gone – you can see why businesses are struggling with “passing trade”.
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this should be a laugh if all three opening ceremonies are staged one after the other, and in fact , i would attend to to watch the farce unfold .
scene one , cut tape , applause , blah blah, blah. applause , end .
scene two, blah blah, blah blah blah, blah.
cut tape ( new one ) applause .end
scene three. applause , blah blah , blah blah , blah blah blah , blah, cut tape( another one ) , blah blah blah. applause. the end
scene three had a bigger budget and a small marquee with refreshments .
11 years in the making and here we are at long last, and millions spent .
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That s exactly what the last governor said when he left: States members can’t stop bickering between themselves when they should work as a team in the interest of the Island.
And now they are fighting to get the credit for importing granite from China and apparently get a non locale company to do the work.
If something is to go wrong , they will point the fingers in the other direction.
Typical childish behavior who seems to be the reason why Sir Philip Bailhache has to fine bad politician behavior.
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Hmmm let me guess who they are. They’re the ones who in their desperation to promote themselves have failed to realise they’re signing their name to the biggest folly since the millennium. Surely the minority who were allowed to vote them in would prefer they focus their energies on more productive work?
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Will the statue be of a RING BINDER ??
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It is a thinly veiled certainty that it is going to be reopened and renamed next year.
It will be the Queen Elizabeth Jubilee Park and Sir Michael Birt will be present.
We are all “Baaaing” in unison!
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Yes Stuart Syvret should get the honour of opening the park,if there is any justice as he was the man who suggested it.
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It’s a sorry state when all the feed back on here is nothing but moaning about non parking and who gets the credit.
Who cares! just let a child do the opening, and the children can then enjoy the park without all the fumes from cars and trucks.
This park is for them and you to enjoy.
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Who cares it is an atrocious waste of money anyway…how the hell can a car park with an overpriced wall and some railings and a few little trees, complete with a communal shower for the drunks cost TEN MILLION QUID..to say nothing of the scandal of buying what the island is made of all the way from china…then there is it’s conception what kind of assembly spends TEN MILLION QUID on the fall of a ring binder…from clanger maclean…surely if that was his intent to vote against any sane body would call a re vote…..ah but this is Jersey,nearly forgot…we major in addled thinking….despair.
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Kermit @11
“Typical childish behavior who seems to be the reason why Sir Philip Bailhache has to fine bad politician behavior”
Now we have King Philip we do not even need politicians now, or elections.
King Philip can choose members for his new court.
Not actually that much different from the current system I suppose.
Some interesting comments at http://www.thisisjersey.com/news/2011/10/22/unruly-politicians-should-be-fined/
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I dont know about anyone else – but I for one – and my family couldnt be bothered to turn up for this time-wasting ceremony of back-slapping… If you dont agree with the outrageous overspend, reduction of parking and political back-slapping – DONT GO…. vote with your feet. There will be no-one there to present too!
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Status Anixity rules rules OK; this is Jersey after all.
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Should anyone get credit for wasting 10 million pounds??
10 million spounds that could have been used in the Health services or eldery services once again Jersey has its priorties scuppered by bury heads in the sand politics, lets all swan around enjoying ourselves in a park we dont need and lets forget about social problem in Jersey.
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Mulvie Le Phew @ 2 ‘Yes just who should get the credit for delivering this white elephant 11 years too late and at a cost of £10 million in the middle of the worst economic downturn the island has ever seen’……………………RING-BINDER-MAN.
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pauper, it was short sighted to not build a underground car park, the park as it is, is at road level , i think it could of being excavated , and if need , being raised to accomodate a carpark.
delhi( india ) has had one for twenty years .
and millions spent .
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Very good to see a picture of Crowcroft leaning on a fence, bearing in mind the fact that he has been sitting on it in all of this. I wonder if there will be public toilets there? If so, they won’t last long before they get turned into cafes. Then they will wonder why people pee in the streets!
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Crowcroft’s legacy is that St Helier is now a place where you can’t park and where you can’t use the toilets because he has closed them all. It is not friendly to the shopper, so people avoid going there if at all possble, which is probably what Crowcroft wanted. To recap; you can’t park and you can’t go for a dump!! Thank goodness for on line shopping!
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# 23 ‘…it was short sighted to not build a underground car park, the park as it is, is at road level , i think it could of being excavated , and if need , being raised to accomodate a carpark’
The existing town, save for a few features, needs to be turned into a car park with a new town, including parks, built on columns above it.
The redeeming features, i.e. the site of the Battle of Jersey, the Central Market, a couple of churches and the Odeon (which would be a misuse of valuable energy to demolish) would remain in their own enclosures, viewable from above or in the car park.
Haven’t I read somewhere that Jersey desperately needs a building initiative to boost the economy?
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Oh what a lot of moaning! And how very Jersey!
It was Stuart Syvret who first proposed the park, and it was a small group of campaigners who campaigned for years to get the park built. That group included a number of politicians and the Constable.
Why was there no underground car park? It was something that the campaigners wanted, but the States did not want to spend that much money. It would have cost far more than the 10 million pounds.
Why has it cost so much for just a surface park? The land was massively contaminated from the gas plant that previously existed there. The contaminated earth HAD to be treated, even if the park hadn’t been built. That contamination was slowly spreading underground to adjoining areas, so the clean-up had to happen anyway. If anyone wants to quibble with that cost, I suggest they take it up with Jersey Gas who created the pollution in the first place!
Finally, be glad that those campaigners bothered to get off their backsides, and do all that work (for free) to create a space for everyone to enjoy. They didn’t do it for gain or personal glory. They did it for the public as a whole. So stop the whingeing, its not an ugly block of flats (which it could have been). Its grass, and trees and play areas (and toilets too #25 Cones galore).
Go down there, chill out and enjoy!
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26 – ‘Jersey needs a building initiative’ we have had enough building over the past 10 years thank you. Much of the properties built remain unsold as a quick glance at the back of the JEP will tell you.
There are also many empty shops and offices to let in town.
The States could of course build affordable housing on the old JCG site but most people assume this has been promised to Dandara for more ‘luxury’ flats.
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Interesting article over at the BBC website, http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-15544841
Apparently, Russian and Chinese companies are the most likely to bribe and the sector most affected by bribery was public procurement – where companies compete to win contracts from governments for everything from waste collection to road building.
Or perhaps granite for public parks…
Draw your own conclusions as I am saying no more…
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@ No 9 The Bean I could not agree more, even the residents Parking Zones are detrimental local businesses as many spaces in these zones are vacant – whilst other motorists spend an age trying to find parking near the town centre.
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Is Ringbinder Park completed or is there still work to do?
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27; there may be toilets there at the moment, probably because they were stipulated by planning. The point is, pound to a penny they will be closed within a few years and turned into a cafe or other commercial venture which will do little to benefit the public.
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# 28, Overpopulated:
26 – ‘Jersey needs a building initiative’ we have had enough building over the past 10 years thank you.
That was meant to be sarcastic!
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