Properties not in public use

Request 721447686​

1

A list of detached properties owned by the Government of Jersey (including Jersey Property Holdings or other relevant departments) that meet all of the following criteria:

• Are currently in a poor or run-down state (as assessed by internal surveys, maintenance reports, or public records), 

• Are not currently in active public use (e.g., not leased, not occupied, or closed), 

• Are not listed buildings or protected under Jersey heritage or conservation regulations.

2

For each property that meets the above criteria, please provide:

• The name or address of the property (if permissible), 

• A brief description of its current condition or categorization (e.g., uninhabitable, requires major refurbishment, etc.), 

• Whether the property is currently earmarked for disposal, redevelopment, or retained for future use, • The year the property became vacant or fell into disrepair (if known).

If it is not possible to disclose specific property addresses due to legal or privacy constraints, please provide anonymized data or general location information (e.g., parish-level or postcode area) alongside the property’s status.

Response

1 and 2 

The Scheduled Public Authority (SPA) does not maintain a list of all detached Government of Jersey buildings, therefore the requested information is not held and Article 3 of the Freedom of Information (Jersey) Law 2011 applies. 

It should be noted that only detached residential properties are recorded on the public property database maintained by the SPA, however, none fall under all of the criteria referenced in question 1.

Article applied

Article 3 - Meaning of “information held by a public authority”

For the purposes of this Law, information is held by a public authority if –

(a) it is held by the authority, otherwise than on behalf of another person; or

(b) it is held by another person on behalf of the authority.​

Internal Review Request

I am requesting an internal review of the decision on the basis that:

• Public records (e.g. States Assembly debates, media coverage) confirm the existence of at least two detached government-owned properties—Aviemore and Haut de la Garenne—which appear to be unoccupied, in poor condition, not listed/protected, and not in current public use.

• It seems likely that additional information is held in asset condition surveys, maintenance logs, or Jersey Property Holdings asset disposal plans, which may not have been adequately searched.

I respectfully request that a more detailed search is carried out, including with Jersey Property Holdings, Infrastructure Department, and the States of Jersey Development Company if appropriate.

Internal Review Response

This internal review has been conducted by an official of appropriate seniority who has not been involved in the original decision. As part of their review, they will be expected to understand the reasons behind the original response, impartially determine whether the response should be revised, and how so, considering the request and the information held, any relevant exemptions, or other relevant matters under the Law.  

The Internal Review Panel was asked to review the original response and confirm the following:  

Does the FOI request relate to a body to which the Law applies, or information held by a body covered by the Law?  

If the answer is no, all the other questions are not applicable.   

Further questions if above is a yes:   

i. Was the right information searched for and reviewed? 

ii. Was the information supplied appropriately?

iii. Was information appropriately withheld in accordance with the articles applied and were the public interest test/ prejudice test properly applied?

Following discussion, it was agreed by the Panel that the decision was upheld. 

The list of the residential properties on the public property database did not meet the criteria set out in the Freedom of Information request.