This Is Guernsey

By Gemma Hockey

THE man who closed off Cobo car park must prove he legally owns it, says the Castel douzaine. Senior constable Chris Workman and dean of the douzaine Nick Dorey chaired a meeting to discuss the placement of boulders blocking off the area at Cobo.

Sandpiper owns the nearby Checkers Xpress store and shoppers were outraged about the road blocks before the company moved them on Friday evening.

Mr Dorey said the fiefland, which Tom Holroyd bought for £50,000, had posed problems in the past at Cobo. Similar land at Les Dunes had also caused disputes.

‘We want him to prove without question that he legally owns this land.

‘We have been advised that he may not be able to do that.

‘Generally speaking, it has been used by the community without too many problems and it’s a great shame that this has happened. And in this instance, in our opinion, as purely an investment opportunity - without regard to vulnerable businesses and the community as a whole,’ he said.

‘We hope it will not precipitate problems in similar circumstances elsewhere.

‘As a douzaine with a responsibility to the community we will be pursuing all avenues to help to solve a difficult situation.’

He said Mr Holroyd had offered Sandpiper the land for a sum of money above what he had paid for it, but the company declined.

Mr Holroyd has agreed to meet Sandpiper representatives to discuss the issue, to be mediated by the parish, at a date yet to be confirmed.

The meeting was agreed before Sandpiper removed the boulders on Friday.

‘In reality, the next move will have to be a legal one between Sandpiper and Mr Holroyd,’ said Mr Dorey, ‘because the parish cannot afford to intervene financially.

‘What we now need to do is try to get the two parties together to see if they can come to some kind of agreement,’ he said.

‘He ‘Mr Holroyd’ considers Sandpiper to be the big player and wants to see how much money he can get from them,’ said Mr Dorey.

Mr Workman said there had been an extended agreement with the land’s former owner, Kathleen Holroyd, for the parish to administer the land until 22 January.

‘Basically, as soon as that agreement ran out, the stones went there,’ he said.

Parish representatives met Mr Holroyd, on behalf of his mother, before Christmas to discuss proposed plans for changes to the car park to be considered by the Environment Department. The parish paid for the drawings.

‘Then we found out that a company he was the director of, A W Holdings Corp, had bought the land for £50,000 from his mother,’ said Mr Workman.

‘We had a meeting with him after we knew this. At that time we were led to believe the meeting was to discuss items his mother wanted to change on the drawings.’

Mr Workman said Mr Holroyd asked the parish to put his name to the plans on his mother’s behalf.

‘We had absolutely no idea he was going to put those rocks there.

‘He told us he was going to talk to businesses about the rent going up to help pay for the redevelopment of the car park, which we were happy about.

‘But without any prior warning, the rocks came out.’

Attempts to contact Mr Holroyd for comment have been unsuccessful.