Fort Regent: Call to halt plan to move sports clubs

Campaigners want Fort Regent to remain a leisure centre

A new campaign group has urged Jersey politicians to abandon plans to remove sports clubs based at Fort Regent.

Friends of Fort Regent asked politicians to review a decision made last year that would see the clubs move out by September 2023.

In February the government put plans to regenerate Fort Regent on hold for financial reasons.

Ministers said the site needed too much work to remain a leisure centre at the present time.

Sports clubs were to move to improved facilities at Oakfield and Springfield.

However, campaigners said Springfield had "substantially smaller capacity" for gym users and fewer parking spaces.

They said the site at Fort Regent also attracted tourists to the area and increased footfall for businesses.

Roy Travert, from the group, said Fort Regent was the most suitable venue for sports clubs.

"All the infrastructure is in there for people to use in large numbers, which you don't have across the island," he said.

"When you consider the amount of building that's going on in St Helier, we need a properly costed and properly costed regeneration of Fort Regent, but sport has to be at the centre of that."

'Lifeline'

In a letter to States members, the group said Fort Regent offered "myriad sports and recreational opportunities".

It said: "For many people, these facilities are a lifeline, providing a sense of community and belonging, as well as a way to stay healthy and active."

Lucy Stephenson, Minister for Sport, said she was still committed to bringing sports clubs back to Fort Regent at a future date.

"If we're going to make sure that it can provide sport and community facilities in the long term, then we are going to stop and think how do we make it safe it suitable for that," she said.

"That may mean that sport still does need to move so things can be fixed, but let's listen, engage and keep talking about it.

"I think everybody is trying to achieve a very similar thing here."

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