Plans for Delancey Park development released

The development needs planning approval before it can go ahead

Guernsey's Delancey Park is set for a major facelift if planners approve plans put forward by the Admiral de Saumarez Trust.

The trust hopes to get corporate sponsorship and donations to realise 18 different projects on the 16 acre site in St Sampson.

They include a new monument to Guernsey naval hero Admiral Lord de Saumarez.

Chairman Alex Rodger said they were hoping to encourage as much public participation as possible.

He said: "We are involving the local community in the park design and have already taken on board advice from existing users as well as parents groups, police, church and education establishments nearby.

"By providing appropriate facilities we hope people will take pride in the park and it will become self protecting."

If passed and the funding is found, new features would include a cafe, gardens and areas planted to attract wildlife.

The plans include improvements to the cycle track and changing rooms as well as the restoration of fortifications from World War II and a Napoleonic gun battery, along with further archaeological investigations of a Neolithic site.

The monument to Admiral Lord James de Saumarez, who died in Guernsey in 1836 after a long and celebrated career in the Royal Navy, would replace one first built in 1877.

All but the base of the 99ft (30m) high granite memorial was demolished in 1943 by the German forces occupying the Channel Islands to clear fields of fire for their artillery and naval batteries.

The plans are supported by the parish authorities and the Culture and Leisure Department.

Minister Mike O'Hara said: "Not only is it great to see that the monument will be rebuilt commemorating the importance of Admiral de Saumarez in the island's maritime history, but the facilities which will be provided or improved will benefit the wider local community across all ages."