Overheating or Distinctly Chilly?
There could be many benefits from sensible development of our waterfront but I doubt if curing the overheating in the retail sector will be one of them (see page 39 of the Masterplan for The Esplanade Quarter). If only it were so. How many times do Chamber and others have to prove that retailing in the Island; does not suffer from insufficient capacity? Almost certainly the contrary is true. At least this seemed to be taken on board by Senator Cohen when he announced recently that the amount of space dedicated to retail and restaurants (around 100,000 square feet the equivalent of doubling the selling space of the five bigger supermarkets in the Island) would be halved, although it did smack of policy making on the hoof.
There is a much bigger issue for Jersey; retailers large and small from the proposal to move most of the significant office space down to the waterfront and rather vaguely say that what is left can become housing.
King Street would probably survive but some parts of the town are already really struggling and if they lose their anchor what will really happen? Just imagine Bath Street without the Royal Bank of Scotland for example. All so that the States property development business can make a so-called windfall between £95 and £125 million on a piece of land the existing value of which has not even been disclosed.
The best way to keep St Helier vibrant as a retail centre is to make it busy with people working, visiting, and living. Creating new office accommodation on existing sites must surely be possible which would leave land on the waterfront available for some new and existing use. Perhaps something that would bring lots of new visitors to the Island or if all else fails address the chronic housing shortage (which is the major cause of ongoing local inflation).
Local retailers already have enough on their plate with the introduction of GST and the accompanying £400 import limit and if that does not hurt enough the potential for a slowing down in both the finance and tourist economy if the trends elsewhere find their way to Jersey. If the Jersey retail sector ever was overheating it is more likely to cool down in the coming months and get positively bitter if this development goes ahead as proposed.