A mobile kiosk which briefly operated at Fermain some 25 years ago could hold the secret to resolving a land dispute at the bay.
The temporary facility, long since discarded, is at the centre of a possible explanation put forward by Policy & Resources president Lindsay de Sausmarez after hours of research into claims that the States may not own the land which today houses the popular beach cafe run by Belmiro de Freitas and his partner Manuela Walter and for which they have been paying rent for the past 21 years.
Descendants of the late Percy Ferguson, who once owned large sections of land in the area, have spent several months pressing the States for answers, after P&R failed to provide documentary proof of ownership and found an internal memo from 2001 which indicated that the Board of Administration was at that time paying ground rent on a kiosk to a private individual, believed to be Mr Ferguson.
‘From the memo that we have published previously under a freedom of information request, we do know that the main kiosk was not in use that summer.
‘Over that summer, a temporary mobile kiosk was set up, and one potential explanation is that a commercial agreement was reached between Mr Ferguson and the States to ensure continuity of service, and Mr Ferguson was paid accordingly,’ said Deputy de Sausmarez.
The mobile kiosk was located on land which was then owned by Mr Ferguson to the west of the beach cafe now operated by Mr de Freitas and Ms Walter.
Deputy de Sausmarez spent some of her spare time interrogating archives which had been pulled out by officials searching for answers to the discrepancies between the States’ belief that it was the long-term owner of the land on which the current beach cafe sits and the 2001 memo which seemed to suggest otherwise.
Their task was complicated by historical documents which used the same terms for different parcels of land at Fermain and the existence of at least three cafes or kiosks operated from various locations near each other at the bay, including one indisputably owned by the Ferguson family which had a lean-to extension built on what the States claimed was always public land.
Deputy de Sausmarez said the documents showed that the States ‘had a positive relationship’ with Mr Ferguson, who died in 2002, some elements of which ‘may have been handled a little informally’, which was not unusual in the island in the 20th century.
Deputy de Sausmarez and her officials also came up with a second possible theory to resolve the land puzzle.
‘Another explanation for the reference to the ground rent in the 2001 memo is simply that the document confused the parties paying and receiving rent, and that it was in fact Mr Ferguson who was paying rent to the Board of Administration for the lean-to extension to his kiosk built on States land,’ she said.
‘The reason that this explanation is perhaps more likely is because the memo is specific about the amount of rent, £266 a year, and its renewal date, December each year, and there is documentation clearly showing that this exact rent was paid annually to the States by Mr Ferguson.’
P&R did not reply directly to questions about a valuation report written by an independent property specialist around the time of the 2001 memo which also aroused suspicion that the States may not own the land on which the current beach cafe is located.
It is understood that the senior committee and its officials believe that any discrepancies in the valuation report were effectively reproduced from those in the 2001 memo.
The States said it had carried out all the research it was prepared to carry out. It has told Mr Ferguson’s descendants that it considers the matter settled.
‘This is a pretty complicated situation, and the passage of time does not make it any easier to piece together the various arrangements that may have been in place,’ said Deputy de Sausmarez.
‘However, given all the work done at the time and more recently to look over 175 years of documentation, we are satisfied that there is no question today around ownership.’
P&R’s position is essentially that the land on which the current beach cafe sits has been owned by the States since the 1920s, and the land which currently houses the toilet block was purchased by the States from Mr Ferguson in 2002.
The family is now reflecting on P&R’s latest response and considering its next steps.
Mr de Freitas and Ms Walter won a three-year stay of eviction in September, after the States awarded the lease on the beach cafe to Pearl Oyster Ltd., the owner of Town restaurants Lola and Coco, following a tender process run last year.
P&R and the couple recently agreed an out-of-court settlement about the payment of legal fees run up during their eviction battle.
It is understood that the senior committee paid well in excess of £100,000 for advice from a local law firm. The couple’s legal costs and the terms of the out-of-court settlement announced on 6 March are unknown.
The Guernsey Press has learned that the senior committee received freedom of information requests last week to reveal its legal costs in full and disclose whether it recovered any of those costs from the couple.