Housing Minister concerned about sale of St Helier House

The building could be sold for around £3m. Credit: ITV Channel TV

Jersey's Housing Minister says he is concerned about plans to sell a former residential home.

St Helier House on People's Park could be sold to a private developer for around £3m.

However Senator Sam Mézec says he is "deeply concerned" about what will happen to the home, as the company bidding for the site has not made its plans public yet.

The building was closed in 2017 after it was discovered it had the same cladding as Grenfell Tower in London.

Parishioners in St Helier are being invited to a Parish Assembly meeting at 7pm on Wednesday 7 August in the Town Hall to approve a proposition from Constable Simon Crowcroft to sell the building and neighbouring Westmount Nursery.

The Housing Minister has said he will be attending and voting against the proposition.

One main concern for Senator Mézec is that the purchaser will fill the building with lots of tiny flats and then sell it on for "extortionate rates."

He has said that if the proposition is voted down, he will do what he can with the Town Hall and the Constable to find a new option for the sale of the premises to benefit the island as a whole.