Request
In respect of the area of land now known as The Sir Winston Churchill Memorial Park in St Brelade:
A.
What covenants, conditions or restrictions apply to this land?
B.
When and under what circumstances were these conditions imposed? No information about any statutory conditions that apply to parks in general is sought.
Response
A.
Transport and Technical Services Department (administrators of this park) do not have full English translations of the Deeds relating to the property. The Law Officers have, in the past, provided information relating to the Park, however, under FOI Exemption, Part 5 / 31, Advice by a Law Officer is ‘Qualified Exempt Information’. Therefore, it is not permitted to provide a copy of this information.
Public Registry services, fees and Stamp Duty
B.
While the request is not seeking information about any statutory conditions that apply to parks in general, for completeness and to avoid any misinterpretation of the question the following comments have been made.
The Department of the Environment is not responsible for or aware of any non-statutory conditions that may apply to the Sir Winston Churchill Memorial Park in St Brelade.
However, any planning application to develop the site or change the use of the park from a public park would be considered against policies contained within the Island Plan and progressed in the normal way. This would include a 21 day period where neighbours and islanders can respond to any proposals. The Sir Winston Churchill Memorial Park is zoned as Protected Open Space within the Green Zone of the Island Plan map, and policies SCO4 and NE7 of the 2014 Island Plan are relevant. These policies seek to protect such places from development and loss. The park is not currently protected as a Listed Place under the Planning and Building (Jersey) Law 2002 and therefore the additional controls that exist to protect Listed Places under the Law do not apply. Any development proposal believed to be so damaging to the site could prompt the Minister to List the Park straight away and deal with the application as a fully Listed site.
The park has been reviewed as part of the relisting resurvey of 2010 and recommended to be protected as a Listed Place by the independent survey team. This recommendation was reviewed by the Minister for Planning and Environment Listing Advisory Group on 13/05/2013 and the park administrators, States of Jersey Transport and Technical Services Department (TTS) were sent a Notice of Intent to List letter on 22/09/2014 to advise TTS of the intent to list this park. TTS have sought advice from the Department of the Environment about the implications of listing of this park, principally in relation to the extent to which permission would be required for works that would not otherwise amount to development, which they regularly undertake in the parks by way of general management, maintenance and use. The Department of the Environment indicated to TTS that it is willing and able to work with them to develop a management agreement, to be appended to the listing schedule that specifies a range of activities for which express permission would not be required subject to an agreed methodology for those works, as appropriate. The process of developing this management agreement for this park is ongoing.
Details of the planning process and a copy of the Island Plan can be found on the States of Jersey website.
States of Jersey website
In addition, any development on the site will need to consider the protection of species that exist under the Conservation of Wildlife (Jersey) Law 2000.
Exemption
31 Advice by the Bailiff, Deputy Bailiff or a Law Officer
Information is qualified exempt information if it is or relates to the provision of advice by the Bailiff, Deputy Bailiff or the Attorney General or the Solicitor General.
Freedom of Information (Jersey) Law 2011
