This Is Guernsey

By Joel de Woolfson

GUERNSEY Post will not be moving from Smith Street to the Guernsey Information Centre.

A lack of space in the building at North Plantation has been blamed by the three States departments involved.

‘We are now considering a number of alternative properties in St Peter Port,’ said a Guernsey Post spokesman. Treasury and Resources, which is the building’s landlord, confirmed that the move, which has been considered for about two years, had been abandoned.

‘Despite prolonged discussions between Treasury, Culture and Leisure and Commerce and Employment, we are unable to use this listed building in a way which could maintain the high standards demanded by Guernsey Post and the Information Centre,’ said deputy Treasury minister Jonathan Le Tocq.

He said that the size of the planned post office was too big for the building, which houses the Information Centre, The Greenhouse exhibition area, Batif, which Guernsey Post has just bought, and offices for GuernseyFinance and Culture and Leisure.

Guernsey Post has to leave its current premises, Nelson Place, because the States wants to sell it as part of its property rationalisation programme.

A spokesman for the company said it was disappointed the move to the North Plantation had fallen through because it believed it would have been a good fit.

‘It is frustrating that this is no longer an option,’ he said.

‘We have invested considerable time and money in the preparations for the move and have spent two years in negotiations, which ended some months ago when it transpired that the move would no longer be possible.’

Dave Chilton, Culture and Leisure’s chief officer, said that the two parties had been unable to come to an agreement because of the space limitations.

‘The whole issue is about the lack of space,’ he said. ‘We have had lots of discussions and there has been lots of movement on both sides, but we have not been able to reach an agreement. We have been frustrated by the fact there is just not enough space for Guernsey Post and the Information Centre.’

Treasury and Resources will now seek alternative tenants for the ‘limited’ space available in the building.