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THIS REALM OF OURS

Save Jersey’s Heritage


Marcus Binney CBE, President of Save Jersey’s Heritage

Tell us the island’s Special Selling Point said Visit Jersey. Easy. Jersey is an island. Around the world, throughout recorded history, humankind has delighted in discovering islands. Today, as much as ever, people warm to the beauty of Jersey’s coastline. Its cliffs, coves and beaches enchant almost everyone who encounters them. Islands, especially small islands, appeal because they are different from the continents and large land masses on which most of the world’s population live, passing weeks, months, even years without seeing the sparkle of sun on blue sea, without the adrenalin boost of seeing the great waters which covers two thirds of the planet. The islands of the Caribbean, the Mediterranean and the Pacific, the Adriatic and the Aegean, are perennial favorites for travellers thanks to clean seas, white sand and lush greenery. Visit Jersey, in its recent supplements in national newspapers, has taken up this theme with impressive vigour. Today Jersey’s coastline and country parishes remain in large part unspoilt, unblemished by the modern world and its voracious appetite for development. Natural beauty is one thing, largely a gift from creation itself, but man-made beauty has its opposite; man-made desecration. Jersey has been slow to protect its architectural charms. There is hardly an historic town in southern England, and indeed in the whole of mainland Britain, which has not improved its looks and appeal thanks to designation of conservation areas and the enhancement policies that come with them. Jersey has no conservation area legislation, nothing equivalent to the French secteur sauveguardé, and it shows - especially in St Helier. There is a view, articulated by Robert Duhamel, former planning minister, in the Jersey Evening Post (3rd February 2017) that “St Helier is not a town with a strong historical or architectural charm.” I disagree. St Helier’s best Greek Revival Regency terraces are fine enough to stand in Boston or Savannah. Almorah Crescent would stand well not just in Leamington Spa, but in Clifton, Bristol’s finest residential neighbourhood. For fancy Victorian terrace houses, retaining all their ornamental trim, their ironwork and front gardens you have to look to Stornaway in the Outer Hebrides for anything so complete. It is not our forebears who failed to provide Jersey with buildings that posterity could take pride in. It is the post-war powers-that-be which have allowed too many to vanish. The result has been steady erosion, not enhancement, of the townscape. St Helier is less than the sum of its parts. Everywhere there are wounds and gashes which elsewhere would have been healed long ago, corner buildings demolished and left as eyesores, surface car-parks looking like former bombsites, modern buildings which stand out like proverbial sore thumbs.

INTRODUCTION

6 / THIS REALM OF OURS

THIS REALM OF OURSChristopher Scholefield, Chairman of Save Jersey’s Heritage

In February 2017 Visit Jersey set a new standard for marketing the island. Eight-page supplements, beautifully laid out and illustrated, appeared in Britain’s national newspapers. The scenes – surfing at Plémont, hang-gliding over St Ouen’s Bay, cycling at St Catherine’s – and the personal stories of young restaurateurs and boutique hotels bringing a new zest to tourism, are ones we all recognise. And applaud. But, what of the rest of the ‘product’ – the bits that don’t appear in the supplements?

In 2015, Visit Jersey launched a public consultation on the future of our tourism industry. Save Jersey’s Heritage submitted a response and much of what we said is contained in this booklet. When the result of the consultation (the so-called ‘Destination Plan’) was published we felt it was a disappointment. There was a good deal written about ‘marketing’ but no mention of the ‘product’. Visit Jersey seems to have assumed that the product – the island itself – is good enough in its current state to attract one million visitors annually by 2030.

Which is curious, because the body that created Visit Jersey – the Tourism Shadow Board – listed ‘product development’ as the second of three principal areas of strategic focus. And it even went so far as to say: ‘There is a general, but perhaps misplaced, view that there is ‘nothing wrong’ with the Jersey product.’ And, it added, ‘much needs to be done.’ Why, then, was the vital question of how Jersey looks and feels sidelined in the Destination Plan?

We agree that there is much to be done.

This essay brings together - for the first time - documentary evidence of how the Public Realm of this most precious island has been damaged over the past thirty years. It provides a rallying cry to those who, like us, love Jersey with a passion and for whom that damage must be stopped...and reversed. We believe those responsible for making the changes we seek will have a clear public mandate to do so because public support for this document will be clear and strong.

Of course, it would be sensible to improve the physical environment in order to attract more visitors – including higher spenders. But we should do it anyway. We should do it for us; the people whose shared consciousness is all bound up with the island we know and love.

We’re starting this booklet with a picture that shows why Jersey is, in some respects, a world-class destination and a truly beautiful place to live and work. Ouaisné Bay would give the Caribbean a run for its money. But elsewhere it’s a different story…


SETTING THE SCENEAlastair Layzell, Founding Chairman of Save Jersey’s Heritage

A proliferation of road signs, clumsy street furniture, an explosion of on-street advertising, and heavy-handed construction techniques have combined to damage Jersey’s visual appeal. For sixty years we have promoted ourselves as being different from everywhere else. Jersey has thrived on slogans such as “Britain’s South Sea Island” and “Closer to France But Nearer to Home”. Now, parts of it are increasingly looking like a dormitory town in the home counties. The States must accept responsibility for this state of affairs. The practical has triumphed over the aesthetic. Where, for instance, the Infrastructure Department has touched roads it has done so with little thought to the impact on the appearance of Jersey’s countryside. It has been a slave to the Highways Engineer’s handbook - and the Island is poorer as a result.

By adopting ideas and schemes that are better suited to cities, and for want of the application of a little common sense, Jersey’s appearance is being changed dramatically. The use of inappropriate street furniture, the introduction of huge refuse bins, motorway -type lighting – the list goes on.

And signs. Signs obscuring our most beautiful views. Signs directing you to other signs just feet away. Signs advising, cajoling, restricting, banning. Empty signs. Redundant signs. Crooked signs. Even signs telling us that our slipways may flood at high tide!

Happily, there is still time to reverse the damage. Signs can be removed. Street furniture can be replaced. The local identity Jersey unselfconsciously enjoyed before the arrival of globalisation can be rediscovered. The chief enemy is familiarity. Islanders may protest at the erection of inappropriate signs, at the widening of a country road, or the use of motorway-style street lights. But these protests are overruled and forgotten – as are the signs, which become part of a subtly degraded environment it takes a visitor’s eye to see. Yet, if pressed, most islanders would probably agree that Jersey’s Public Realm has lost some of its charm.


BRITAIN’S ‘SOUTH SEA ISLAND’Jersey offers its visitors a compact combination of city, coast and country – all three experienced in the Jersey way. Few, if any, islands of such a convenient size have this mixture; to offer two of these things is common enough but to offer all three is remarkable. Jersey sits astride the English and French speaking worlds and has other communities who contribute to its unique atmosphere. And, of course, its eventful history is plain for all to see.

Since visiting an island involves the traveller in extra effort and expense, we think those who come here should be rewarded with ‘a first class visitor experience’, and it is essential to be very specific about exactly what is meant by that aspiration.

Jersey should capitalise on its assets by offering an islandscape that is a world apart, not just a cramped version of the mainland. By islandscape we mean its natural environment and its buildings – and especially its ‘public realm’, which is to say the spaces between those buildings. All these should offer sights, sounds, materials and experiences on a scale, and with an attention to detail, that is at once pleasing and unique to the island.

We are not living in the past. Jersey is not a syrupy theme park. The interventions of modern life are inevitable - and indeed desirable - but they must be thoughtfully made. In an increasingly homogenous world Jersey’s policy should be, whenever possible, to do things its own way, so as to intrigue its visitors and reward them for making the effort to come here. Occasionally this policy will involve compromising other priorities but the time has come for such compromises to be struck with the explicit goal of improving Jersey’s appeal as a place to visit.

This ambition is not limited to the physical environment. It can flow from the island’s atmosphere; the cheerful police officers in their white summer helmets, the retail business offering arresting and appealing window displays, the three blasts from a ferry in the harbour to remind us that we are a maritime community. If a visitor travelling home thinks ‘I wish where I live was more like Jersey’ we will be able to say: ‘mission accomplished.’

Some may criticise these aspirations as precious, elitist or phoney. We are convinced such objections are wrong. Today’s discerning visitors know all about good design and expect the urban decorum that flows from it. Around the world the transformational power of good design is recognised by all. We think it odd that this issue has so far received such little attention from the authorities in Jersey.


ISLAND OF CONTRASTS; REDISCOVERING ‘JERSEYNESS’Jersey is an island of contrasts. It has fine beaches, outstanding natural beauty, some of the most sublime heritage sites in Europe including prehistoric sites of the first importance, outstanding marine reserves around its coast, five-star hotels and Michelin-starred restaurants. But it also has a main town that has been partly damaged by demolition and unsympathetic re-development, a public realm that looks tired, and some visitor services that leave a lot to be desired. In order to inform its Destination Plan, Visit Jersey started a discussion about ‘Jerseyness’. We say that the built environment is one of the keys to Jerseyness. The island should feel unlike anywhere else. St Helier, for example, should not be ‘Anytown’.

Jersey has enjoyed autonomy for centuries. It is not the English county of Jerseyshire. The default reaction should almost become: ‘If that’s how things are addressed in the UK we must consider all available alternatives before falling into line.’ Legislation demanding otherwise should be reviewed.

We offer this thought: those involved in tourism should view themselves as players on a stage. Hospitality is theatre. For the visitor a trip to Jersey is an event. Our job is to respond with an appropriate sense of occasion. Fifty years ago that meant a uniformed commissionaire greeting arriving passengers on the tarmac at the airport. It meant liveried staff on the harbour quayside, uniformed coach drivers, and lounge-suits and dirndl skirts for couples attending a ‘Honeymoon Ball’ at West Park Pavilion.

Today, ours is a less deferential, more informal society. But informality is no excuse for low standards. Taxi drivers hold a Public Service badge (our italics) issued by the States. Carrying fare-paying passengers while wearing a T-shirt, shorts and sandals cannot, surely, be the first impression we want for our visitors. If Belfast and Southampton and Birmingham airports can greet visitors with a fleet of liveried taxis with drivers smartly dressed, so can we. Our drivers must be ambassadors for Jersey – in how they look and what they say.

There are other players on the tourism ‘stage’; ‘meeters and greeters’ working for tour operators, bus drivers, police officers on the beat, hotel and restaurant staff, shop assistants, beach concessionaires, rubbish collectors, lifeguards. The list goes on. But, the best theatre is the work of an inspired director. So, the lead must come from the very top of every private company involved in hospitality and from the States. We need to be ‘elegantly casual’ – a term which has defined the atmosphere of other successful island destinations such as Bermuda, Nantucket and the Ile de Ré.


WELCOME TO JERSEY!What sort of welcome is it? If you are arriving by ferry from the UK or St Malo the view is grim. The utilitarian Elizabeth Terminal boasts no prominent WELCOME TO JERSEY sign (unlike St Peter Port) – though smaller signs have recently been introduced. There is nowhere from which arriving passengers can be greeted, or departing ones waved off. No-one sits simply enjoying the bustle of comings and goings. The whole experience has been made to feel as much as possible like air travel; the worst example to follow.

The view from the deck of an arriving ferry is of an industrial vehicle-management facility beneath a rag-bag selection of lighting towers. Once through the terminal, visitors are faced with cheap nylon flags, a car-park cluttered with signs, an ill-defined route to the town-centre, and stacked shipping containers. It is several hundred yards before they see any greenery. Those arriving at the Albert Pier terminal fare little better.

The influential French travel guide Le Petit Futé warns: ‘The problem is that, upon first acquaintance, the town does not feel like the oasis of charm promised in the tourist brochures. The area around the harbour is instead rather unappealing and industrial. The panorama of the town is sadly disfigured by the chimney of the electric power station, tall buildings and car parks. The traffic is incessant and the pedestrian streets are swarming. Those who may have come in search of a little tranquillity are at risk of being jostled and carried away by the hectic rhythm of the town.’

Come by air, and the Airport’s apron is a sea of the inevitable high-visibility jackets. To walk to Arrivals and Baggage Reclaim is to be bombarded with a succession of pompous or ingratiating finance-house advertisements. The occasional pictures of Jersey are tired and conventional. What a contrast with Edinburgh Airport where the walk from the gate stimulates the visitors with brilliant photography and the words of famous writers. So should its equivalent in Jersey.

Among the official announcements is a stern warning that Immigration staff need not tolerate bad behaviour. Apart from being a statement of the obvious, what kind of welcome is that for the 99.9% of passengers who are polite and reasonable? Finally, to emerge from Arrivals is to be faced with more adverts, non-uniformed tour representatives, and taxi-drivers – many of whom have clearly forgotten that you only get one chance to make a good first impression.

First impressions: the view from a car-ferry arriving from the UK. The same scene in Guernsey, complete with a

welcome message. Trees and greenery on the road to the centre of St Helier…

but only after walking through an industrial port. What greets visitors on

the Albert Pier is not much better.

Beach concessionaires need help from the States in design, positioning and advertising. The new Portelet Beach Café leads by example (middle right) – a nicely restrained addition to the area. Beach umbrella and tents in Deauville (bottom)...St Brelade’s Bay could be like this.


Spend a few minutes searching the internet and you will see that visitors rate Jersey very highly. They write of its cleanliness and friendliness, its world-class heritage sites and attractions such as Durrell. There are particularly fulsome quotes about hotels and restaurants. But there are also telling indications that something has gone wrong with the public realm.

‘I’m not saying ignore Jersey’s capital completely, but probably don’t pick a hotel there as a base. With the best will in the world, the town is not the prettiest place.’ (Daily Telegraph reader’s comments).

There is almost universal praise for our beaches but the concessions on those beaches (once within the gift of the Tourism Department, now under Jersey Property Holdings) often leave much to be desired. Some are no more than a Portacabin, scattered plastic furniture and some bins. The concessionaires may be doing their best but they deserve much greater support from the States. For a small outlay we could take on the likes of the Ile de Ré or Deauville, the fashionable resort in Normandy – whose thoughtful approach to design offers endless ‘photo opportunities of colour co-ordinated beach umbrellas and bathing tents. These images are famous throughout the world.

All this is easily achieved. But it requires a particular mindset, from those who serve our visitors…and their landlord.


HOW DID IT HAPPEN? WHEN DID JERSEY LOSE ITS FLAIR?We are suffering from the legacy of tourism’s golden years. After the Occupation, Jersey didn’t have to try too hard to attract visitors; they came in their hundreds of thousands. In the years of post-war austerity it made sense to travel within the sterling area, to a place where the street names were in French but the locals spoke English – and where you didn’t need a passport. But the rise of package holidays to the Mediterranean, the problem of adapting guest-houses and small hotels to offer en-suite facilities, and an increase in domestic air fares forced a dramatic down-sizing. Where once there were 25,000 beds, there are now 11,000. But the idea that you don’t really have to try too hard remains.

That’s wrong. Other destinations, and the many hoteliers and restaurateurs in Jersey who maintain high standards, know tourism is an intensely competitive business. So it is especially disappointing that their efforts have been compromised by an island that has fallen out of love with tourism. The perception that the leisure economy was of little importance compared with the finance sector meant that Jersey didn’t seem to mind if it shed some of its appeal as a visitor destination.

Modern infrastructure may be efficient, but it offers little to delight its beholder. It seemed easier to use established UK standards than to re-invent the wheel, so Mainland methods and design solutions have been applied, regardless of their ability to integrate into a sensitive environment or one reliant on a buoyant visitor economy. (For example, what other explanation can there possibly be for the over-engineered and disagreeable underpass severing St Helier from its waterfront? It shifts traffic from A to B but St Helier’s relationship with its harbour pays too heavy a price).

Elsewhere increasing traffic levels and the demand for parking have led to a range of interventions, often in sensitive locations, that cannot have been chosen for their pleasing appearance. Put simply: the islandscape in town, coast and country has been noticeably coarsened. This is not necessarily an inevitable fact of modern life, as good practice elsewhere demonstrates. Among the first casualties of this situation will be the more discerning visitors who look around themselves, feel disappointment and drop Jersey in favour of a more engaging experience.

For too long the island has addressed the various challenges confronting it without paying sufficient attention to the appearance of the end result. There will have been compelling reasons for the various solutions adopted but these have been accepted as if their impact on the island’s appeal as a place to visit was not an issue. The fact that they were disagreeable to look at or might simply erode the island’s character was not taken into account. This was a mistake. There is a balance to be maintained. We must rediscover that balance and begin work on a series of remedial measures to re-instate areas or features that have suffered.

What can we say about West Park, gateway to St Helier from the west? Red umbrellas at La Frégate can hardly soften the hard landscaping and the setting of The Grand, one of Jersey’s leading hotels, has been compromised by clutter and cars.


THE SCOURGE OF THE SIGNSIn September 2015 the British Government appointed a traffic-sign ‘tsar’, Sir Alan Duncan, to oversee the removal of unnecessary road signs. The move was in response to public disquiet about cluttered and unsightly streets. England had 4.57 million traffic signs in 2013, a 111 per cent increase in the past twenty years. Jersey suffers from the same problem and it is time for islanders to say ‘enough is enough.’

It has been a bad decade for signs. The Green Lane initiative was inspired – but it unleashed a wave of new signs across Jersey’s rural parishes. Increasingly, Jersey struggles to meet the requirements of the Vienna Convention on Road Signs and Signals (1978) and, in that sense, the traffic engineers are only doing their job. As professionals, they are bound to offer politicians solutions which keep Jersey up to date with best practice and in line with the Convention. The sadness is how willingly these have been accepted by ministers. Where is the creative thinking, the concern to protect our local identity? It must now be apparent that if we are to remain a slave to rules designed for trans-European highway networks we will spoil the look of this island forever.

The best illustration of this is the western end of Victoria Avenue which was renewed in 2008. Here was an opportunity to soften Jersey’s principal route and to think carefully about materials. Instead, the contractors installed lamp-standards of motorway proportions: they are higher than those they replaced. What little grass remained in the central reservation was removed in favour of red tarmac. And, when the road-laying was complete, the forest of signs which had marked this spot out as one of the worst visual slums was replaced – with extra signs for good measure. Victoria Avenue ended up looking like this (opposite top) when it could have looked like this (opposite bottom) - with the 30mph signs removed in favour of a speed limit written on the road (see our ideas elsewhere in this document), unnecessary signs removed and grass re-introduced to the central reservation. Far from being Jersey’s pride and joy, Victoria Avenue is an embarrassment. Closer to St Helier, cars fill the seaside laybys day and night: the marine side of the principal gateway to St Helier is a permanent resting place for white vans. The laybys themselves are littered with signs listing restrictions…and repeater signs directing users to the main sign. It is a lost opportunity to offer a welcome as memorable as La Croisette in Cannes or Las Ramblas in Barcelona.

There are however, glimpses, of how Victoria Avenue could be. Stand on the promenade opposite First Tower and look east. At eye-level, you will see St Helier and Elizabeth Castle through tropical plants. It’s part of a scheme started in 2009 and intended for the rest of Victoria Avenue…but abandoned on grounds of cost. Turn through 180 degrees and you see the Avenue with which we are more familiar; all cars and clutter. This magnificent curved promenade, from St Helier to St Aubin, should be a treasure for tourists to explore, locals to enjoy – on foot and on bikes – and motorists to admire as they use the island’s principal road. There should be gorse or Spanish Broom (such as they have alongside roads in France), palm trees, and much more grass – long ago removed from the central reservation.

Setting Victoria Avenue aside for a moment, there are immediate measures which ministers can adopt to improve other principal roads. The first is to review existing signs. Are they strictly necessary? Could markings be put on the road itself instead of on a pole (as happens in Guernsey)? Can signs be combined? Could Jersey’s directional signs follow an island-specific design instead of the UK model (as also happens in Guernsey)? Since when have traffic lights had to come in threes? Why not make it the responsibility of the drivers of coaches or vehicles over 6’6” to know where they may go without resort to signs?

How about communicating speed limits by the presence or colour of the centre line? This would, at a stroke, make many hundreds of signs redundant. Only this type of thinking will deal with the scourge of the signs.


The two faces of Victoria Avenue: town and Elizabeth Castle seen through tropical plants…and a layby of vehicles, many of them trade vans. We could learn a thing or two from recent landscaping in Marbella, Spain (opposite).

Jersey’s postal heritage; red telephone boxes on a London street - ours have become advertising billboards; an ‘inner-city’ supermarket ramp in St Brelade; good local identity - three leopards on a Jersey numberplate; roadside mirrors have become an epidemic.


LITTLE THINGS MEAN A LOT

In modern times Jersey has spent large sums of money on grand projects. What we are proposing, in attempting to make our island more attractive to locals and tourists, will cost thousands rather than millions of pounds. First, we should cherish (and, where necessary, restore or develop) those things that make Jersey special; our French street and place names, our Victorian, Georgian and Edwardian post-boxes, our post-vans (turned white some years ago on grounds of cost – with a consequent loss of character - and now adorned with advertising), our island flag (only flown from most States’ buildings seventeen days a year which may explain why many home-owners don’t fly it as proudly and as often as the Americans and the Scandinavians), a more distinctive design for Jersey’s car number-plates, avoiding the use of the .uk domain (for example by the States of Jersey Police whose counterparts in the Isle of Man proudly use .im), and prominently displaying facsimiles of the ancient charters which confirm Jersey’s right to self-government. These are all small details that, taken together, set our island apart. They are part of the ‘islandscape’.

The wrong type of detail can cause a disproportionate amount of damage. Our countryside is afflicted with mirrors in hedgerows, banners draped on fences and disfiguring beauty-spots, and fences that look like stockades. We see States’ vans with the words ‘Highways Maintenance’ on their side – but there are no ‘highways’ as they exist elsewhere in Jersey. There has been no public consultation on the type of ‘street furniture’ that would suit Jersey. So, the day-glo yellow reflectors, motorway-height street lamps, directional signs, and mis-matched rubbish bins are visited upon us from on high because they were easy to find in a catalogue. For its size, Jersey has a wealth of artistic talent. We should foster it and be designing our own versions.

Good-looking street lamps in Stockholm, Sweden; even taller ‘motorway’ lamps being installed at West Park; night on Victoria Avenue; and day for night at St Aubin. Why couldn’t they have used something like these in the Ile de Ré? (opposite)


We should be thinking, too, about how the island looks and feels at night. Fifty years ago, Jersey was lit by tungsten street lamps which gave off a creamy white light. Those were replaced by sodium and, for thirty years, the island – like the rest of the British Isles - was plunged into an orange mist. Now, sodium is being replaced again by white light. The trouble is that it’s not the old, warm white of tungsten but the hard, cold, white light of LED. It’s far more efficient and will help reduce carbon emissions. But, so far as we know, nobody asked the people of Jersey for their opinions. Elsewhere in the world, cold (rather than warm-looking) LED lamps have not been universally welcomed. Rolled out in residential parts of New York earlier this year, they have upset residents. ‘It’s like a movie-set or a construction site’ said one. In Llandough, Wales, locals organised a petition to have their recently-installed LED lights replaced. Last year, Bath council was forced to halt a replacement programme and hold a public consultation. And in Trafford, Manchester, residents threatened to take their council to court if it went ahead with plans to replace 2,700 street lights with LED. Here, the height of our street lamps and the coldness of the new light source is nowhere better illustrated than in St Aubin, where work which was supposed to enhance the character of the area has been spoiled by the lighting. And on La Route du Fort, the charming Victorian-style lamps have been scrapped. Why?

Parking sign in Nantucket, USA; banners in St Peter and on the railings of the parish church of St Helier; inappropriate steel bollards on the High Street, St Aubin just like those at the service station at Junction 2 on the M40; a long pole with two small signs at Portelet.


A traffic island in St Helier and the equivalent in St Peter Port; Visual clutter at Bel Royal; two identical signs for the price of one at St Aubin; a proliferation of urban signs in the countryside.

Urban signs at La Pulente in Jersey’s Coastal Protection Zone; unnecessary signs in St Ouen’s Bay; and the ubiquitous wheelie-bin that has been rolled out across the island.


THE VIEW FROM HERE

We clutter our best views at will. In St Ouen’s Bay – the closest we come to the grandeur of England’s national parks – we insist on spelling out parking restrictions; tell people that parking is free; obscure the Millennium Standing stone with signs and bins; interrupt one of the most magnificent views on a European coastline; and plonk signs in the way of a view of the best surf in this part of the world. Here, there is nothing between you and New Jersey…except three thousand miles of ocean and an outsized wheelie-bin provided by the Infrastructure Department.

At Corbière the classic picture of the most southerly lighthouse in the British Isles is spoiled by insensitively-placed litter bins. It’s the same story at St Brelade – an intrusion on a scene that has sold millions of holidays down the years. Nearby, at Petit Port, a bin ruins the view and the Maram grass of centuries is cluttered by a new sign erected in 2012 which tells you that the slipway is liable to flooding at high tide. At Gorey the road to the great castle of Mont Orgueil - surely a candidate for World Heritage status - is paved with signs alternately welcoming and restricting visitors.

In public parks we are made aware that this is ‘a facility brought to you by Transport & Technical Services’. Do we need to know – at the risk of damaging the setting of the park? Signs outlining what is and is not allowed in a park are of questionable value and do damage to the look and feel of areas used by the public. There is a strong case for removing these. In the car parks of St Ouen’s Bay it is not clear who would want to leave their car for more than 24 hours. If they do, there must be other methods by which they can be warned that they are breaking the law. And, if the P Free signs were removed it would be fairly obvious to motorists that, in the absence of signs and meters, this is an area where they are not required to pay to park. If signs are essential they should be sympathetic to their surroundings.

Fountains and wheelie-bins on parade in Jardins de la Mer; Two mirrors for the price of one on the Railway Walk; clutter at La Rocque; confusion in the eastern parishes; and chevrons on parade at La Pulente.


Spoiling the view at the foot of Mount Bingham; clutter at Grève d’Azette, First Tower, and at the entrance to St Peter’s Parish church; an epidemic of wheelie-bins at some of our finest bays.


THE WRITING ON THE WALLThere are those who argue in favour of placing advertising on every available public space.

Ports of Jersey, given a new remit to be more commercial, will say sponsorship at the harbour and airport helps to keep dues down – a benefit felt directly by passengers through lower fares. But, it comes at a high visual cost: the approach road to the terminal at Jersey Airport is lined with advertising banners, the doors of the Airport are plastered with transfers, even the columns of the Departures Hall are wrapped with adverts. And, as their arriving aircraft taxies to its stand, visitors can be forgiven for thinking that this airport is run not by the States of Jersey but by a finance firm. We are giving Jersey a hard edge.

Now, the Planning Minister has further relaxed controls on advertising. Adverts up to five metres square will not normally require permission. The Minister has made it easier to change existing signs, and to cover construction hoardings with adverts. We think this rush to monetise every blank wall with musak for the eye is counter-productive. It’s doubtful that locals are influenced by adverts. From a tourism perspective, high-spenders are more likely to notice the mess than the message. Other destinations have strict rules on advertising in public spaces because they appreciate that the look and feel of a place is part of its ‘brand’. Countries such as France and Italy have reined in the use of advertising in the public realm; our Planning Minister is taking Jersey in the opposite direction.

One moment of relief from the visual clutter of sponsorship and advertising was the introduction of the Connex bus fleet fifteen years ago. The blue buses were free of advertising – a stipulation of the company’s contract with the States. Now, however, the new operator’s buses are being wrapped in adverts and transformed into travelling billboards. They may become as ugly as their predecessors operated by Jersey Bus in the 1990s. Taxis, too, carry advertising. Even some hire cars have been given transfers covering the whole of the rear window.

The new Routemaster in London contrasted with Jersey’s travelling adverts; calm and refined spaces free from adverts at Stockholm Airport...compared with our airport terminal - inside and out; black taxis standing to attention at Birmingham Airport with uniformed drivers.


All this raises the question of how we want to be seen: cheap and cheerful or smart and stylish. Should a visitor destination meekly accept modern Britain’s predilection for private affluence and public squalor?

It goes to the very heart of the argument about how Jersey should be marketed. If we are serious about attracting one million visitors a year by 2030 bringing £500 million to our economy (the ambition of Visit Jersey), it demands a debate at the highest level. Any further relaxation of the planning law should await the outcome of that debate.

After all, higher-spending tourists are among those Visit Jersey wants to attract. The European continent is a target market; Germany alone sent 15,000 staying leisure visitors in 2014 – 40% more than 2010. At £800 per head they are the highest spenders. In fact they spend over 60% more than their British counterparts. Many are keen walkers and enjoy Jersey’s natural beauty. But what do they make of the rest of it?

If we are to ‘build the value of tourism to Jersey’ (a stated aim of Visit Jersey) we must consider the quality of our built environment. Receiving the Stirling Prize, the renowned British architect David Chipperfield said: “Germany, Spain, France and even Italy, have the remnants of a public system that feels it is responsible for things that sit in the public realm. We are a hard, cold commercial culture. One of the big problems is to persuade people that small things matter.”


A HEAVY HANDWhile we debate the question of Jersey’s overall appearance, damage is being done every day. In the parishes, charming rural roads are being widened and treated unsympathetically.

The Heavy Hand is most evident in our ‘engineering’ schemes. A cycle track linking St Peter and St Brelade – a welcome initiative – was built between the airport and Don Farm. A wide strip of light-coloured gravel – broad enough to conform with the guidelines issued by the UK transport charity SUSTRANS – has had a great impact on a rare bit of countryside in this urban part of St Brelade. It borders fields owned by the Public of Jersey yet the builders felt compelled to erect an alien post-and-rail fence for its entire length.

The same mistake has been made in St Peter’s Valley. The new cycle-path is to be welcomed but the paraphernalia attaching to it - notably the post and rail fencing and the mirrors - risks urbanising one of the most attractive valleys in the island. It must be possible to contrive a path without doing such visual harm.

Crash barrier at Petit Port; public art in Colomberie; Interpretation panel at West Park; a living wall at King’s Cross, London - imagine Pier Road multi-storey covered like this; nautical crash-barrier at Flicquet; and stone pines on the Waterfront - it could be the South of France.


ALL IS NOT LOST

What a gloomy picture we have painted! But there are glimmers of hope. The Infrastructure Department has replaced many of our old crash-barriers with wooden equivalents which look softer, experimented with other barriers that nod to our maritime heritage, and gradually replaced the green and the red plastic bollards scattered across the parishes. We applaud the recent attempt to re-vamp the taxi and cab industry, with all cars required to be black, grey or silver (though there is no mention of uniforms for drivers and a fear that the cars, like buses, will be ‘wrapped’ in advertising).

The ‘Percent for Art’ policy implemented by the Planning Minister is starting to have an impact, notably on the built heritage of St Helier. The work of the Public Sculpture Trust is acknowledged. The Fort Regent Signal Station has been restored. Jersey Norman-French has had a boost (see the names of the parishes along the top of those buses which haven’t yet succumbed to wrap-around adverts). The creation of Natural Jersey is very welcome. Thanks to The National Trust for Jersey and some far-sighted politicians the headland at Plémont has been returned to nature. And private landowners have made some sensitive interventions on the landscape. But, they are few and far between.

We need only look across the water – in both directions - to see how much more can be done; clearing away signs and barriers to give less cluttered streets, using ‘living walls’ to disguise ugly buildings, planting trees to soften town streets, the clever use of colour, more emphasis on history and heritage. None of this is expensive, but the economic gain (through our ability to attract high-spending holidaymakers) could be very great.


THE ROAD AHEAD

The Public Realm represents our shared consciousness. It is the one space where we come together every day. It is the one area over which the States has almost total control. And, in this most precious of islands, it is the one area in which the States is failing properly to consider the visual impact of its decisions. We have an Infrastructure Department which is the envy of many other local authorities. Its dedicated staff ensure we have what may be the cleanest tourist destination in the world. In times of crisis we look to them to clear storm drains, man our coastal defences and repair nature’s damage. In other areas – notably sewage disposal – they have led the way through innovation. But, when it comes to aesthetics, the Department has lost its way.

We must go back to basics; return our roads – particularly rural roads – as close to their original condition as possible and consider a new approach to signing. This is not to suggest that the Island be preserved as some sort of museum: this report should not be taken as an attempt to hark back to the past. Rather, it should act as a guide to the future. We should look, also, at some of the sensitive work done in St Helier itself, where some modern lighting and street furniture blends well with old buildings. If it can be done in Town it can be done elsewhere.

We should be inspired by simplicity, by colours and materials and shapes; and, by the very best of Jersey such as Rue du Bocage in St Brelade (left). Untroubled by the need to repair underground services (because there aren’t any) this lane has survived, unchanged, since it was laid in the 1930s. It is among the very last of the ‘Jackson Roads’ laid by the States Chief Engineer, ‘Pop’Jackson. He had the simple idea of using concrete into which was tamped pink granite chippings. It gave the Island a charm unlike any other. Sadly, because it was laid transversely and could not easily be patched after repairs were made to any services which lay beneath, it fell out of use and was replaced by the ubiquitous tarmacadam. But even with tarmac (in which part of it has been re-surfaced) La Rue du Bocage has other attributes which make it a gold standard for The Road Ahead. The walls holding back the fields at a higher level (the traditional ‘bocage’ of Normandy) are soft with age, its trees overhang and – crucially – it is devoid of signs.

To stand here and consider what damage has been wrought elsewhere is to realise that, after six decades of damage, the time has come to repair Jersey’s Public Realm. As residents we deserve nothing less.


WHAT NEXT?To arrest and reverse the decline in Jersey’s appeal as a visitor destination we call for:

- A review and enhancement programme for the island’s harbours and airport- An ambitious planting scheme for our principal thoroughfare, Victoria Avenue- An upgrade of publicly-owned beach-side amenities- An audit and editing of traffic management and roadside paraphernalia- A code of good practice for the management of the Public Realm and the visitor experience, emphasising local distinctiveness and the promotion of a sense of occasion

A public authority such as the States of Jersey rarely welcomes an unsolicited review of its practices by vocal citizens who, inevitably, have not been able to access all the relevant information about the issues it must balance when it carries out its work. As a result, the temptation is for the authority firstly and insincerely to ‘welcome’ their interest in its activities but later to express regret that, owing to budgetary and financial constraints, very few of the proposed improvements called for can be afforded. So, everything carries on just as before, change for the better feels impossible to achieve and public cynicism about the process of government prevails. There is no good reason why that should happen to this initiative. And, here’s why:

- Some of the changes proposed would cost comparatively little - Removing clutter can cost less than continuing to add to it- Spending upon the island’s public domain should be seen as an investment in one of its key industries- This Realm of Ours could be the catalyst that supplements the Percent for Art scheme with a Percent for The Public Realm scheme - Large sums are being spent already, so it’s largely a question of adjusting our priorities- Article 20(4)(d) of the Dormant Bank Accounts (Jersey ) Law 2017 allows money to be released for the making of environmental improvements in Jersey- Infrastructure could raise more money from J plate sales by also selling plate design choices, as is done in Australia- The Tourism Development Fund currently backs business ideas but expenditure on the Public Realm should be included within its remit.

Further useful information can be found at:

Public Realm Information & Advice Networkwww.publicrealm.org

Poles Apart – a booklet by Members of Parliament Nadhim Zahawi, Steve Baker, Anne Main and Julian Smith www.zahawi.com/PolesApart/polesapart.pdf

Streets for All – published by Historic Englandwww.historicengland.org.uk/images-books/publications/streets-for-all-south-west

Save Jersey’s Heritage was created in 1990, just after its founders had successfully saved Government House from

demolition. In 1993 SJH rescued and restored the eighteenth century cottages and shops in Hue Street – one of the oldest

parts of St Helier. It has helped prevent the loss of many historic buildings, notably the shops in Dumaresq Street and Pitt Street

(with the National Trust for Jersey) and mobilised public opposition to a cluster of fifteen-storey tower blocks planned for Castle Quay. Now, it makes a rallying call to repair the damage

done to Jersey’s Public Realm.

Save Jersey’s Heritage© 2017

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