An application for a building permit for a new hospital has been submitted

Plans for a new £710m hospital for the sick in Jersey have taken a step forward with the submission of a detailed planning application.

The Jersey Government has said a public consultation has shown “support” for the design of an acute hospital at Overdale in St Helier and a timetable for its delivery by 2028.

The statement said the hospital plans were “affordable, fit for purpose and feasible”.

The government said all documents would be available for review once the application was “approved” and islanders would be invited to “express their views” on the scheme.

‘Strong support’

A government spokesman said: “The application for planning permission followed a period of public consultation.

Islanders expressed strong support for most of the programme’s objectives, with the prevailing view among respondents being that construction of the hospital should “go ahead”.

“The site masterplan evolved to respond to stakeholder engagement, resulting in changes to create a more robust design solution.”

As well as the Overdale urgent care centre, the government plans to build an outpatient centre in Kensington Place and a mental health campus at St Saviour’s Hospital, at a combined cost of more than £1bn.

Deputy Minister of Health and Human Services Tom Binet said the government had made a “commitment to the people of the Island” in its joint strategic policy, adding that construction of the hospital would begin this term.

“The submission of this planning application brings us one step closer to delivering on this commitment and providing our island with much-needed new healthcare facilities,” Mr Binet said.

Plans to build a combined hospital at Overdale were previously submitted in 2021 and approved in May 2022, but were later deemed unviable and replaced with the current multi-site design.

Mr Binet said the next steps for the planning application would be for Deputy Environment Minister Steve Luce to review the information and determine a process.

“At this stage we are hopeful that the application will be successful early next year and that we are on track to complete the emergency centre by the end of 2028,” Mr Binet said.

“I am pleased to publish supporting information on Phase 1 of the scheme alongside this planning application, ahead of the budget debate later this year.

Analysis by Ammar Ebrahim, BBC Jersey Political Reporter

The submission of a planning application for an acute hospital in Overdale is a major step forward, but there is still a long way to go before the project becomes a reality.

Previous plans for a new hospital got to this stage but were rejected by the planning commission. This time, the health minister and planning officials are confident the project will go ahead.

They believe they have addressed some of the issues around traffic, access and the impact on the island’s landscape. The size and scale of the project are also smaller than Our Hospital Project, which was the last attempt to create a new hospital in Jersey.

During the briefing, planning experts emphasised that the investment would have a positive impact on patient well-being and increase biodiversity.

However, the plan is to build a multi-site hospital and Mr Binet and his team have yet to submit planning applications for the other two sites, at Kensington Place and St Saviour.

Mr Binet said the islanders wanted his team to “just get down to work” but there were many hurdles to overcome before the foundations for the new hospital could be laid.

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