Minister says 'temporary' Les Quennevais hospital could be kept for 25 years

Tom Binet spoke to ITV News after a review criticised a "lack of clarity" with the government's hospital plans for a new hospital.

Temporary hospital facilities created at the site of the old Les Quennevais School - which were originally due to be kept for around five years - could be kept for "20 or 25 years" according to the island's Infrastructure Minister.

Deputy Tom Binet told ITV News it was "objectionable" to demolish the site so soon after spending £50 million converting the former school into a healthcare site.

Plans to refit the former secondary school were announced by the previous government in 2021, intended to provide a home for the outpatient services currently located at Overdale while the site at Westmount was being redeveloped into the now-scrapped £804 million 'world-class' healthcare campus.

He said: "We're looking at maintaining Les Quennevais because we're spending £50 million there, and I just found it objectionable that we would spend £50 million and put a bulldozer in after five years.

"[The government] has wasted a lot of money, and I think those buildings could do for another 20-25 years.

"So if that takes out 7,000 square metres of development in the future, that'll save a bit of money in itself."

It comes after an independent review criticised a "lack of clarity" and "significant gaps" in the government's plans for a new hospital in Jersey.

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