Plans for new £21m police HQ unveiled
Wednesday 22nd February 2012, 2:40PM GMT.
An artist's impression of the proposed new £21m police station on Green Street roundabout
REVISED plans for a new £21m police station on Green Street roundabout would allow 150 new homes and a new car park to be built on the site of the current headquarters.
Ministers yesterday announced that they were backing a new five-storey station on the flat part of Green Street car park, and say they can fit the entire police force on the site.
That means that both the existing Summerland and Rouge Bouillon sites would be vacated – with Summerland earmarked for 120-150 category ‘A’ (affordable) homes and the Rouge Bouillon site potentially providing more homes or a car park.
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looks state of the art, HOWEVER do we need the penthouse on top and the balcony or is this a sercet viewing platform?
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Will there be enough space for the police and civilians to continue their free parking.I am a civil servant and do not have free parking. It is about time the states started charging some of their employees for parking
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The hospital should be put 1st.
I am curious to know what is so wrong with the existing Police station.
Glad not to own a car as some will be turning around town for a while before they can park.
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A few questions:
1) Is a building of this scale really needed?
2) Where is the access/ egress point for the police vehicles?
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They have to be joking! – The Building is HUGE and towers over the flats and offices on the side and also all other nearby buildings, possibly apart from the Cedars!
This should not be approved; even Dandara would not get such plans passed.
Also the proposed Police HQ is in the wrong location; it is too near to bottlenecks, the rush hour traffic and the tunnel which is impassable between 07.30 and 09.00 Sirens or not.
The JCG Site on the Ring Road would be much more sensible and this could accomodate a new Police HQ and would also still leave ample room there for Housing.
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Liberty Wharf (Jersey’s failed shopping experience) would have been the ideal situation. Near to the docks and main trouble areas, great access east and west and north. Owned by the States of Jersey.
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Agree totally. The abbatoir site as was should have been the police/fire station.
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Great idea Nigle shame your not in charge of planning.
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The JCG Site on the Ring Road would be much more sensible
Yes, but CoM, past and present, just don’t do sensible, nor would we get more housing that nobody wants.
We are all doomed!
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What a complete waste of taxpayers money! and what’s the reason they can’t just buy the £6m building currently for sale in Green Street at a saving of £15m
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Can the tendering document be publish online so that we all understand the detail of the financial agreement.
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Of course it is important that the Police are equipped with the best and most curernt facilities Jersye can afford them. We are not a poor island, but we ARE an island with a noteable criminal community. Those who deny this are either ill informed or unwilling to look facts in the face.
The size of the building is due to the fact that the current facility is too small, it therefore stands to reason that they need a bigger one!
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You make a good point on crime but that is because the Jersey states don’t stop criminal from coming here anyone can walk in to Jersey with a criminal record Jersey should be able to like Australia police check anyone wanting to come here to work they have a duty to protect us.Criminal see Jersey like the uk as an easy touch they can come here do what they like then the hard working tax payer has to then pay towards the cost of keeping them in prison, I would send all non Jersey criminals back to where they come from, Jersey has enough home bred louts with out having foreign ones!
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So the old police station site in Rouge Bouillion is to be a car park. Brilliant it’s right next to – erm bugger all, it’s miles from the shops and businesses, will there be a free shuttle bus to the shops?
I would also like to know precisely what is wrong with the old one, aside from plod wanting a shiny new home.
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surely at this moment in time the states should be saving what little money they have.We are heading the same as Greece.As a law abiding citizen i am getting abit fed up myself as i am sure i am not alone.May be the NEW police station will be to house the rioters which i can see will happen at this rate
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I so agree, why are we building a new police station before a new Hospital, people are dying in Jersey because of the dreadful conditions of our hospital, and the lack of nurses, what on earth are our state members thinking of?,the police station can wait until we can afford to cosset them, use the 20 million pounds towards a decent hospital for the people of Jersey it is well over due.
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These proposed 5 storeys appear to be at road level so what are they proposing goes underneath this rather over the top building?
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Given we can’t build a town park for £10m let alone without having a £900k discrepancy there is no chance this will stay at £21m. I see an over run already!!!!
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What an earth is happening to Jersey. As a Jersey born person, I feel this island is steadily going downhill. Why on earth are they spending £21m on a police station when there are more crucial projects that this money could go to, i.e. healthcare and education or spending it on the younger generation to keep them off the streets and keep the crime levels down. Do you honestly thing a huge Hotel looking type building is needed for such a small island. For once, why can’t the people who live and were born in Jersey have a say on what the money gets spent on. Haven’t we just thrown our money away on the Millenium Park which has been nothing but a headache, with vandalism since its been erected and now more costing is to be spent on it. Wake up you people in the Government and think about the generations to come. There will be nothing left of this island if you continue to waste tax payers money and you will not get your tourists in as it’s becoming a place for the rich to live.
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TOTALLY AGREE!
Sadly the powers that be always seem to pass these ridiculous plans, and money seems to be given out willy nilly. £21m ? really? how can they come to that figure, seriously, how? PLenty of better causes to be dealt with.
Just When are we going to be asked about our island? when? im sick of it. Jersey is not jersey anymore.
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From an archiectural exterior point of view this building is horendous it is out of scale with the building adjacent and at the very least should be the same height as the building ajacent, is this the best the States architects can come up with? If a private developer proposed a scheme like this there would be a public outcry. Start again boys!
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The size and scale of this building is well out of place in its preset surroundings at the very least it should be it should be the same height as the building adjacent. If a private developer had a proposal like this there would be a public outcry! If this is the scale of building required for the new Police Headquaters maybe the States should be looking at a larger site they own like the Esplande. Nice try boys back to the drawing board!
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Only a matter of time before they extend into the adjacent graveyard, too, I would imagine.
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Having seen the plan for the proposed Police headquartres.
I agree it should go back to the drawing board,it has several problems ,not to mention dwarfing the flats next to it, blocking thier views. and replacing with views of a wall of toilet windows.
Surely planning cant pass this building
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Convert Snow Hill into multi storey car park,nearer town for shoppers,easier access to town,use barrier system to pay so no tickets if held up in shop queue but charge bit more than usual to deter workers from filling up car park so no room for shoppers wanting to come & go.
Police HQ can go in over the road then with the much needed 150 units of accommadation!!
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Will that be the new HQ for the future “Channel Islands Police Service”??
If I may add, what exactly is wrong with the existing station at R.B. Why can it not be renovated, I mean, has someone properly looked into this at all??
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People are being favoured and made wealty by half of these decisions…the town badly needs parking…o k. well put a cop shop where you could havce parked…? Hello…?it would be so very easy and economical to extend the car park floors right up to the road and fill it in…PARKING SOLVED…so why….? I think you all know why….this island is so corrupt now it sickens me.I’d sooner deal with the Mafia..at least they make the rules clear.
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whats new the island is corrupt, who has to pay for this rip off not the banks or high earners all this island wants to do is have rich and poor people. a jersey man as you can tell from st helier school boys school
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A common question here is what is wrong with the current Police Station well here goes on just a few
1 The actual Police Station on Rouge Bouillon, the one where arrested persons are kept, is a listed building so there is little that can be done with it structurally to make it fit for purpose
2 The facilities for the Uniform Operations chapesses & chaps, the people who you see out and about policing, who work from there is woefully lacking in all aspects of a modern office working environment. There is not even any natural light available to them.
3 The cell block is archaic to say the least and falls very far short of what any modern holding facility should be. Half the cells do not even have toilets and cannot have them installed as the mains drain cannot cope and due to its listing cannot be accessed.
4 The Police Headquarters on Rouge Bouillon (the old school) is structurally knackered. Take a look at the outside and you shall see all the remedial work to stop it leaking. It is not financially viable to repair so if to remain as a Headquarters it would need a rebuild.
5 Summerland became a satellite when the Fire Service took over half of the Police Station back in 2001 and was only meant as a temporary measure until the building of a new Police HQ was complete. Again it is woefully lacking when it comes to modern office working facilities.
6 There is very little space for the fleet of vehicles required to Police and they are dispersed all over the place at Rouge Bouillon and Summerland
These are just a few of the problems but serve to make a point. It is right and proper that any group of working people have the appropriate fit for purpose working facilities and environment for the job at hand and the Police are no exception. For those of you who work in officers, and no doubt there will be exceptions, you will have modern clean facilities to work in/with and would be somewhat shocked to see that in which the Police and all their support staff colleagues have to use.
Whether you like the architectural merit of the new Proposed all in one place modern Police Station/HQ is irrelevant to the argument. The money for the project was ringed fenced ten plus years ago but all previous attempts at progressing a build have been scuppered.
The new building if done properly should last 100 years plus (with the appropriate maintenance)
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1:Listed building to turn into a car park ?
2:Lack of natural plant is vital for plants , not humans. Wasn’t a problem for years.
3: can’t make it too comfortable for them, or they would want to come back.
4: Fixing a leaking roof is not quit 20 millions
5: 2001, They left it a bit too late.Even the new park was done before. Priorities wrong again.
6: Cars should be on the road , not in the car park.
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1:Listed building to turn into a car park ?
It is the School that will go for the car park. It is not listed
2:Lack of natural plant is vital for plants , not humans. Wasn’t a problem for years.
Wrong again only source of vitamin D is from sunlight vital for all humans
3: Can’t make it too comfortable for them, or they would want to come back.
Utter nonsense
4: Fixing a leaking roof is not quit 20 millions
Not just a leaking roof. The whole building is structurally flawed. It will be demolished wherever the Police go. It is condemned.
5: 2001, They left it a bit too late. Even the new park was done before. Priorities wrong again.
Still does not distract from the fact a new station IS required
6: Cars should be on the road, not in the car park.
More utter nonsense. Not very vehicle will be deployed at any given time; there is maintenance and the ability to respond from PHQ when required! Major incident vehicles, trailers etc. etc. I could go on
Clearly you have a lack of understanding of the logistics and realities of Policing
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I cannot see the sudden obsession with a new police station and this particular location.
Some bright spark says lets buy the limes site for a new police station, State Street get the drop on the states, yet we continue to be fascinated with the idea that the police station MUST go east of the tunnel… WHY? Who is benefiting from this?
As mentioned above the best place would have been the abattoir site but there are plenty of options already in the SOJ property portfolio (which I am sure are already earamrked for apartments) JCG, The old planning offices at Mount Bingham.
But 21m? is an awful lot of money in tough times just for a copshop. If it was combined ambulance, fire and police (i.e. all emergency services) then it may be justified.
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I cannot see the sudden obsession with ….. this particular location.
This location is next to the last location, simple as that. Please don’t expect our forward thinking planners to think outside anything bigger than a very small box, it would blow the brains of the CoM. After all it took ten years to get the Town Park wrong, so this is bound to be a disaster even before they hit the Enter key
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The sudden obsession is because someone messed-up the purchase of the building nearby and is keen to get something in place before the next elections so that the original mess-up cannot be used against him when he stands for reelection.
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This building is huge. To answer some of the questions above: -
The basement will have circa 44 spaces for the police vehicles (of which there are over 50) and there is no parking provision for the staff.
Ingress and egress is near the flats onto Route du Fort.
The building actually occupies 30% less space than all the police buildings currently used (its just now all crammedonto a small site!).
The ‘five story building’ comprises a double height (nearly) ground floor, four floors above (higher than domestic) and a ‘floor’ for plant above. Equivelant to higher than SEVEN storeys, without the basement.
There is NO WAY this should be passed.
This should go back to the drawing board with a building in scale to the surroundings – BUT OF COURSE if that happens the site is not big enough for the Police HQ.
This smells of heavy political pressure coming to bear
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Well another plan for another Police Station. For those of you that haven’t followed this saga over many many years, it actually began back in the early 80′s when it was found that the Police Station at Rouge Bouillon was too small. The States then did what the States so often do on capital projects – they tried to save a fortune and instead ended up paying out considerably more. What I am talking about is the fact that they tried to save money by converting the former school at the cost of many thousand when in fact it needed demolishing and a whole rebuild on the site together with below ground parking. Because that never happened the Police have had to make do for years with buildings that aren’t suitable in so many ways and more to the point cost a fortune in up keep and heating etc. Added to that is the fact that the cells are now so old they are no longer fit for purpose.
For years there were plans to find a new home for the Fire Service but that all came to nought. Whatever you think or feel a new home for the Police will have to be found as it will be cheaper to stay in situ whilst the new one is being built / adapted for use rather than have some event happen whereby the States have to rehouse the Police and pay rent – oh did I mention I’m told the boiler is very old and virtually unserviceable and the main building is actually cracking due to subsidence.
Have to say I also favoured both old JCG or the Island site and have some concerns with regard this Green Street site. However that said considering the length of time that this has been spoken about, I think there comes a point when things have to progress.
Of course they could have a significantly smaller building as a presence in the Town complete with custody area and then look to siting the main building out of town. Couple of large well know granite buildings east of Island spring to mind.
And lastly I agree with Reality Check – if a glorified play ground, oops Town Park whatever its meant to be, cost 10 or was it 11 and now its 12 but seems somehow to be moving towards 13 million (Yes I doubt if they will ever publish a full audit, because if the did many people would be outraged at how their taxes were being spent) I for one cannot see how a purpose built Police Station, with security, cells, control room etc will come in at anything like 21 million. That is laughable over here where the costs of building are so high. I doubt that they’d be much change from 30 million.
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The trouble with this lot in the states their still living in the jersey of twenty years ago, people used to look at us living in Jersey with envy, not any more where becoming a bit of a joke.When did you see for sale boards in Jersey? even 5 years ago, if a house came on the market you never needed to advertise it with a board, word of mouth was enough. You drive round this Island now there everywhere.You never saw roads with potholes, it was unheard of, but the states members need to realise we are now strapped for cash, we can not live beyond our means, just like any woman running a house hold will tell you, what we need is more woman in the states, who are not afraid to say NO WE CANNOT AFFORD IT.
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i was wondering where the fire service was going as they are on rouge bullion too.
next weeks headline ?
” new site needed for fire service “.
(22) nothing wrong with st helier boys , i quite enjoyed it .
” slobs in pods waiting to flower”
a fine way to discribe the class you are teaching , filled one with so much confidence. bring back lurch and plank and basher , not forgeting hippo.
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plank and basher , not forgetting hippo. Ah… that makes you about 54
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The perfect place for the police station the hospital the perfect place for the hospital the waterfront hotel,the perfect place for the fire station cine world building and the Ambulance station can have the swimming pool Problem solved.
A question that I would like answered is, who has bought the original building the police were going to have in green street and the states were half way through buying before it all went tits up (haven’t seen it in the monthly Homelife paper yet!!) it is still empty. No more office blocks should be allowed to be built until all the ones that are empty are occupied, is it me am I missing something! wake up states members your half asleep do we have to hit you over your brainless heads with this years crop of new potatoes before you wake and see what your doing to this island. Is the head of planning qualified to do the job and if so what are his qualifications?? I would expect him to be a qualified architect or at least a Highly qualified surveyor the people that get the top job should have to be highly qualified in all aspects of the job like the treasurer of the states should be at the highest level of accountancy, correct me if I have been wrongly informed but it seems not to be the case.
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It will be interesting when they receive a “999″ call at a rush hour for some emergency in the west of the Island, the Tunnell is full, and the Avenue is blocked.
Is there a real need for a new Police Station, why does everything have to be “state of the art” in this Island?
The Hospital is more important..!!!!
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It will be interesting when they receive a “999″ call at a rush hour for some emergency in the west of the Island, the Tunnell is full, and the Avenue is blocked.
Oh please! Do you not realize what a silly comment that is?
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What is silly about it?
A Police Station in that site is clearly wrong, no vehicle can pull over in the tunnell to allow an emergency vehicle to overtake, time is essential in an emergency, any other route is too long..!!
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At the moment how do you think all emergency services respond east?
Ambulance and Fire service always use the tunnel as they respond from static locations
Police will deploy closest available officers which may or may not result in the use of the tunnel
Your comment is silly as you overlooked this simple fact
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#30 – Helen, why is that a silly comment?
I live in the apartments (so yes I have a vested interest); but at rush hour it is gridlock.
Vehicles simply back up – where on earth are cars supposed to go when in the tunnel to allow vehicles thro.
Whilst I have no siren on my car, it can take me half an hour to do a journey that normally takes ten minutes – and that is going East at rush hour!
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Not disputing he fact that he Police need new accommodation but have to agree with so many points.
1. Location – just ridiculous that this is seen as the chosen site. 30 Helen – it is not a silly comment. A major emergency between 8 and 9 or 5 and 6 would be an absolute disaster. Anyone who parks in Green St regularly knows this. I still can’t see why the current ‘old school’ site cannot be re-developed as the site is at least the same (if not bigger) than Green St. This would only affect the office staff and with the amount of vacant office space in Jersey surely temp accommodation could be found. The exit routes are tried and tested here so why change something that works?
2. Parking – this is an absolute joke. What the politicians failed to mention when it was glibly pointed out that Pier Road rarely filled up during the day is that by moving the Police station here they are bringing another 240 police officers and 90 support staff into the area. Guess what, they are all going to need parking. With the police shifts, there are likely to be at least 60 officers on duty from 7 am and I’m guessing that the vast majority of support staff start at 8am. It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to work out that with 90 spaces going from Green St (normally full at 8.50) and the influx of another potential 150 staff on duty during normal office hours (who will be in earlier than most current office workers) we are very quickly going to have a town parking problem. So the reality is that for parents who cannot drop their children off until 830 in the morning and go to work in town, guess what, you will probably be parking at the old police hq. oh joy!!!. For this reason alone the scheme is flawed. WAKE UP POLITICIANS!!!!
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Would someone kindly explain to me why it is necessary to locate our entire police force in one building? What is the advantage of having the plain clothed academics in the Fraud Squad working alongside our uniformed “beat bobbies”, or the Drug Squad liasing with the motorcycle traffic patrol – when it returns.
There seems to a reasonable argument for a St Helier based “cop shop” to send out snatch squads on rowdy weekend evenings, but can’t a few more of the force either work in separate offices or from home? After all, they are not short on technology.
In any event, how long are they all going to be in this vast new edifice on a daily basis, apart from going on parade and enjoying the canteen facilities? I thought the whole idea was that the bulk of the police force was “out on the streets” fighting crime.
It is, of course, a matter of great shame that our Rouge Bouillon holding cells are “not fit for purpose”, as presumably judged by Her Majesty’s Inspectors (impartial policemen from outside Jersey). No one wants to see drunk and violent criminals obliged to lie in their own body fluids, with no comfy bed to soil.
Why not build an extension for holding cells and arrest rooms up at La Moye, where the detained can get a flavour of what they can look forward to?
Frankly, crime levels in Jersey are pretty unremarkable and many of us think we have far too many paid police. So let’s abandon this vanity project for an oversized Plod Palace and come up with something more modest and practical.
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33Willy Fayling
Completely agree. No idea why a single building is required. I work for a company that has staff split across 5 locations. We have to interract through things such as the telephone, email, desktop collaboration and we do just fine. Why should the police be any different. It just does not make sense.
How do we stop this madness from going ahead?
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