The Island Development Committee agreed to fund drawing up plans for refurbishment of the North Plantation and a UK Consultant drew up sketches following consultation with interested agencies as to what was required.

Town Centre Partnership provided the list of invitees which included States Departments (Board of Administration as owners of the land, Tourism, Traffic Committee, Harbour Authority, and Public Thoroughfares ) plus The Police, Property Owners and Business owners in the area. The Constables of St Peter Port were also invited.

As a result all parties were supportive although the scheme was rejected by The Board of Administration in October 2002 for various reasons including the high cost of the exercise.
In consultation with the Board of Administration The Town Centre Partnership engaged Lovell Ozanne Architects to redraw the plans to a more acceptable design and more importantly less cost.

The result is as shown above which has now been accepted by the Board of Administration and agreed by IDC. We have now obtained a quote for the provision of detailed plans and costings and running the job and have applied to the Board of Administration for the funding of the plans which are expected by the end of April.

There will be a public exhibition of the scheme to be held at the States Tourism Building within the next four weeks.

The total cost of £TBA has to be raised by the Town Centre Partnership although there is an amount of £50,000 allocated by the Board of Administration towards these costs. We cannot commence the scheme assuming the detailed plans are passed until the funding is in place.

The scheme is very exciting and will create one of the few open spaces in St Peter Port .There will be an al fresco dining area, a performance area of entertainment and the ability to erect a marquis for special events. The area will be well lit and the road at the rear should be closed to vehicles for the majority of the day as the attractive circular design of the cobbles will make an ideal pedestrian walkway.

We are hoping that when the area is completed we will be allowed to control the usage for entertainment/events to add to the Candie Gardens experience.