I am standing for re-election as an independent candidate for parish deputy because I believe passionately in improving the lives of people in St Brelade and improving the environment of our beautiful parish. In this manifesto I set out my thoughts on the main challenges facing the parish and how I would tackle them.
Introduction
I am a native of St Brelade – I grew up in the parish, I went to La Moye and Les Quennevais schools and I’m lucky to live with my family in my grandparents’ old house at Petit Port. My wife and I have sent our kids to our local schools. This corner of Jersey is my home. So I’m heavily invested in making St Brelade the best it can be from a variety of different perspectives, whether that’s driving up education standards, protecting and enhancing our environment or ensuring that everyone has the chance to live a good life.
My approach
I have learnt a lot during my four years as a parish deputy. I have been a highly active parish representative, attending almost all the parish assemblies and participating in debates over everything from rate setting to the future of the Elephant Park (see below). I am a member of the parish youth club committee, I’ve held multiple “drop in” events, I organised two public meetings (along with Deputy Miles) to discuss the assisted dying proposals and I’ve campaigned against developments such as the attempt to expand the Nude Dunes building into a larger bed and breakfast.
It has been good to see new restaurants and shops opening at St Aubin, but I know these are difficult times for the retail and hospitality sectors. I have supported new licensing applications as restaurants have opened and if elected I would like to work more closely with the businesses based at St Aubin to help them overcome the barriers that make their life harder than it should be.
Much of a deputy’s influence comes from what you might call “soft power”. A Deputy is not the Connétable – it is important to remember that the civic leadership of a parish rests with the Connétable. But what a Deputy can do is still significant. A Deputy can convene. They can bring together the parish, government agencies, community groups and private stakeholders around a shared problem. They can name what needs to be done, build the coalition to do it, and make sure the right levers are pulled at the right level — whether that’s a parish assembly, a States debate, or a quiet conversation with a Minister. That is the role I have tried to play in my first term, and the one I intend to play with more experience and more ambition in the next.
I want to acknowledge the work that was done by Helen Miles as Deputy of this parish during the last four years. The “Beautiful St Brelade” project she commissioned and the report that grew out of it was an exceptionally rich analysis and provides detailed information on what parishioners want to see improved. It is a strong starting point for future action. Encouragingly, it identified many of the themes that I have been speaking about over the last few years and which are further developed in this manifesto. One key recommendation was that parishioners would welcome a return of the parish volunteer scheme, and I would aim to work with the next Constable to achieve this.
There are six areas on which I want to focus if elected, but as always I am keen to hear from you about issues that you would like addressed.
Les Creux
Fighting for community use of the old Bowls Club pavilion at Les Creux was one of my most satisfying achievements in this term – even if it took far longer than it should have. The building now has a tenant and a purpose — and that is the springboard for something much bigger. We need to build a community based vision for the whole area around Les Creux. We have the pump track, the scout hut, the Astronomy Club and then of course the wider country park. It is such an exciting opportunity!
Last year, I worked with environmentalist Sheena Brockie and her colleagues at Grow Jersey to develop a vision for what the wider 45-hectare country park could become. Their proposal was inspiring: it imagined a village green type space, community growing areas, disabled access allotments, pollinator patches, wildflower meadows with paths, and picnic areas that connect people to the extraordinary range of habitats the site already contains.
That vision was always intended as a conversation-starter, not a blueprint. We need the community to shape what comes next. If re-elected, I will work with the parish to build on that foundation and begin turning the vision into a plan.
St Brelade’s Bay: an opportunity
St Brelade’s Bay is such an important part of what makes our parish special, but I think there is an opportunity to think afresh about what it can offer to islanders and visitors alike. Natural beauty alone is not a strategy, and there is a risk of relying too much on the bay’s legacy assets rather than investing in fresh ideas. In particular, I think there is an opportunity to build a new identity for the bay as a high quality cultural destination. Here’s my thinking (and I acknowledge a debt to Jon Carter at Jersey Heritage who has thought a lot about these ideas).
The bay has a remarkable artistic and creative heritage that is not fully exploited as a coherent offer. The Fisherman’s Chapel contains medieval frescoes of extraordinary quality — some of the finest sacred art in the Channel Islands.
In 1847, Thomas Sutton — inventor of the panoramic lens and the single-lens reflex camera — set up his workshop and studio by the beach, producing Souvenir de Jersey in 1854, the island’s first photographic publication. The bay’s light and landscape drew Victorian and Edwardian painters, and in 1907 André Gide and the Belgian Neo-Impressionist Théo van Rysselberghe gathered an avant-garde colony here. Van Rysselberghe producing a series of weather-charged canvases explicitly titled “Jersey.” Edmund Blampied, Jersey’s greatest artist, painted the bay and lived nearby during the Occupation. And Claude Cahun and Marcel Moore — now recognised internationally as pioneers of surrealist photography and identity art — lived, worked, and resisted the German occupation from their home overlooking the bay.
None of these threads has ever been pulled together into a coherent visitor experience. I want to start a conversation about whether that could change. Could we construct a heritage trail connecting the chapel, the landscape and the Cahun story; curated exhibitions in the bay’s hotels during the shoulder season; guided walks that bring the artistic history to life (I know a Mr Tadier who has expertise in this area); and potentially a permanent base for the Cahun collection in the parish. The La Marquanderie building, currently empty, is the kind of location that could make something like this possible.
I am not presenting this as a finished plan — it isn’t one. But I believe St Brelade’s Bay deserves new thinking, and I want to work with the hospitality sector, heritage organisations, the arts community and the parish to explore what an arts and heritage tourism offer might look like. The raw material is extraordinary. The question is whether we have the ambition to make the most of it.
Les Quennevais
The precinct and parade were built in the mid 1960’s which means that coincidentally they’re the same age as me. And just like me, they are beginning to show their age! They still serve us well, with some great shops and of course there are homes of which people are justly proud. But at some point in the future, the deterioration of the fabric of the buildings is going to force us to take action. Either substantial renovation or a full scale redevelopment will be necessary.
In the short term, I will continue the work begun by Deputy Miles to engage with the landowner, the homeowners and the shop tenants to deliver necessary improvements to the buildings and their surroundings. I still believe that there is potential for the government to take a unit and use it as a customer service hub for the west, and I’ll push for that. But I will also engage with all stakeholders to discuss the long term future. Thanks to a Proposition brought by Deputy Miles, the government is now considering the future of the area as part of its Regeneration Steering Group meetings. This is going to be a task requiring perseverance and patience.
My longer term vision is a comprehensive redevelopment that creates an entirely new centre, taking advantage of the ability to dig down into the dunes, moving most of the car parking underground and creating a far more welcoming environment for new shops and homes – with more of both. It is worth sounding out the development sector to see if there is interest in taking this kind of major redevelopment project on, and failing that, the JDC could be a potential partner. Andium could also help rehouse people during the rebuild. I want to stress that this is a long term plan, something that would require deep engagement from the owners and tenants and the community. But we need to start having the conversation so that we can take control of the future vision for the site, and ensure that everyone’s views are considered.
Meanwhile, down the road at Communicare this much loved facility is also showing its age. Roof renovations are ongoing, but the entire building could do with revitalising. Its role is not in doubt – and it has been great to see Brighter Futures and the Library join the Youth Club and all the other users, but there is no doubt that the fabric of the building needs work. At the same time, there is the opportunity to rethink what the Centre offers. I will be a willing partner in that work.
Road Safety
I have spent much time and effort trying to make progress with the La Sergente/Route de la Pulente road improvements. The railway walk crossing is dangerous and so is the walk along the road to join up with the pavement to the Atlantic. Work in this area should be a priority as part of the “safe routes to schools” programme, and if elected I will push hard to make progress. The Infrastructure department is wedded to a version of road improvements which is dependent on some complex land transactions, but if these prove to be intractable issues, then I will push for alternative schemes to be considered. We simply cannot allow another four years to go by without solving this issue.
More generally, we have seen some significant road improvements over the last few years, for example the resurfacing of Route du Noirmont, and the traffic calming measures at La Moye have now bedded in well. I would be interested in hearing from parishioners about other areas that they feel need improvement, either from a road safety point of view, or because the road surface is in dire need of repair.
There is still a major issue with speeding in the parish, as I know to my cost since I live on the Corbiere loop. The States of Jersey police have now acquired a mobile speed camera, and it is to be hoped that this will have a deterrent effect. However, I will continue to work with our tremendous parish Honorary police, to target known hot spots. I am all too aware that speeding deters pedestrians, cyclists and other vulnerable road users from using the roads and given our ambitions to encourage active travel, we must continue to act aggressively to curb speeding.
Elephant Park
I played a key role in opposing the parish’s initial attempts to spend around half a million pounds on renovating the toilet block in the Elephant Park, but I was pleased to be able to support (and indeed propose to the parish assembly) the vastly more reasonable plans to renovate the toilets and the drains for around £300K. Still a lot of money, but a lot less than was originally proposed. Work has already begun on the drains, which is great to see. However, we must not stop here. If elected, I will want to work with the Constable to move to the next stage which must be to refresh the park itself. It is is absolutely critical that whatever is proposed for the park is preceded by a full public consultation involving the whole community, but focusing in particular on the children and their parents who use the park.
And before anyone asks, I am committed to retaining a pétanque court in the park!
Young and old
It is easy to see the agenda for the elderly as entirely different – indeed opposed – to the agenda for young people. But as I argue elsewhere in this manifesto, I think that is a mistake. As the island’s population ages, we will be come ever more dependent on the young people we have, so it is in the interests of the elderly that Jersey to be attractive to younger generations. And similarly, it is in the interests of young people that the older generation remain healthy, economically active and contributing to society. Instinctively, we know that all our interests are intertwined. Encouragingly, the Beautiful St Brelade report highlighted that there is a real appetite for multi-generational spaces and.
In terms of what this means for the parish, it means first, focusing on the facilities available to young people (and not just the Elephant Park). We are lucky to have the skate park, which has been the tremendous success that those of us who campaigned for it always knew it would be. But Les Creux – and particularly the pump track which could be much improved – offers lots more potential. Most of all, it means listening to young people to hear what they feel is missing.
For the elderly, there is much that can be done to encourage participation and keep people healthy. I discuss elsewhere in this manifesto the Island of Longevity project, which offers a great launching pad. We can also build on the work in the Beautiful St Brelade report, including establishing a parish volunteer scheme. I am also strongly supportive of finding some limited sites for development of step down and supported housing, having had much feedback from people who would like to move into smaller or supported homes, but would also like to stay in the parish, where provision is very limited. There are a couple of potential locations of which I am aware, and
Finally, there is one more idea that I would like to promote. In other jurisdictions, a portion of the budget that is spent on young people is handed over to them to decide how it is spent. It’s called participatory budgeting and it gives the people who will be most affected control over where it is spent. There are multiple ways in which this kind of scheme can run, starting at a small scale, but St Brelade could become a test bed for the island for this kind of approach. The aim would be to encourage participation from young people and to make sure that money is spent on things which are actually wanted by the people who are expected to use them
Jonathan Renouf 2026 election campaign 