Assistant Economic Development Minister Steve Pallett said the Fort would need ‘probably in excess of £50 million’ invested in it and may have to be sold or leased to private investors.
Senator Pallett warned in February 2017 that the Fort might have to be closed on health and safety grounds within the next few years if millions of pounds were not spent.
Now he has said that the next term of the States Assembly is crucial to securing the Fort’s future and that if no solution was found within the next four years, the building would have to close. The Senator said that he had put Fort Regent at the top of his list of priorities and had already met Chief Minister John Le Fondré and States chief executive Charlie Parker to discuss the situation, adding that he would also seek to raise the issue with other ministers. He also said that he was actively looking for potential investors to rejuvenate the site.
Parts of the centre, which is used by thousands of Islanders each day, have been allowed to fall into disrepair.
Senator Pallett said the uncertainty over the future of the building had meant it was difficult to renew or enter into new agreements with clubs and organisers keen to use the Fort as ‘I don’t want to enter into agreements that I’m not sure we can honour’.
Senator Pallett, who has previously chaired a steering group to develop plans for the Fort, said private investment needed to be considered to save the Fort and that could include selling or leasing nearby sites as part of the ‘Fort package’. He added that he was confident something could be done to save the Fort, but that a plan of action needed to be in place sooner rather than later.
He said: ‘We have an iconic building that has been severely under-invested in and we need to make a decision about where we are going with it.
‘I’m not prepared to sit around for four years watching it fall apart. At the moment we are sticking plasters over something that is in trauma.
‘The building will not be open in five years’ time.’
‘The Fort needs tens of millions of investment – probably in excess of £50 million. The building has not had any investment for the best part of 50 years.
‘You wouldn’t let your house get in that state of disrepair so why are we allowing it on one of Jersey’s most-loved and iconic buildings?’
He said that investors would be unlikely to be too interested in the ‘four walls’ of the Fort and that extra elements of the package – such as the car park, South Hill and Snow Hill car park could be discussed.
Senator Pallett said: ‘The longer we sit around, we are going to end up at the point where we are backed into a corner and we have to close it.’
He also moved to reassure sports clubs currently using the Fort that solutions would be found should the worst-case scenario happen.
‘We are in a position now where we can’t renew leases with anybody because we don’t know how long the Fort has got,’ he said. ‘I don’t want to enter into agreements that I’m not sure we can honour.
‘We are trying to make sure we have a constructive way forward where, if we are going to start closing parts of the Fort, it is done in a way that limits the impact on the user groups as best as possible.’
