A new name is called for

THE name Haut de la Garenne has, alas, been irretrievably tainted by the child abuse inquiry in which it has played such a prominent part.

Although the police have now made it clear that the most atrocious crimes allegedly associated with the former children’s home were, in fact, not committed, the reputational damage has been done. In many people’s minds, the building will remain the ‘house of horrors’ that so many newspapers and television stations were all too eager to describe before a more accurate picture suddenly emerged.

It is also true that though the grossly inflated story of gruesome deeds was very substantially toned down by a sober review of the so-called evidence, a shadow still hangs over the Island’s most notorious structure. Haut de la Garenne might not have been the site of child murder, but the suspicion that other horrible crimes were committed there remains.

But the history of the building – real and imagined – has left the Island with a dilemma. What can be done in future with a place so redolent of the most serious scandal but nevertheless worth millions of pounds?

An interim answer has been found in that the decision has been taken to reopen the facility – which was successfully remodelled as a youth hostel before last year’s abuse story broke – as accommodation for visiting military groups.

This is a prudent step, not only because the building should not be allowed to fall into dereliction through lack of use but also because servicemen and women can be expected to be made of stern enough stuff not to be squeamish about occupying premises with such regrettable associations.

A report on the ultimate future of Haut de la Garenne has been prepared by the Property Holdings department and this will be presented to the Council of Ministers next month. This might well suggest that more general use can gradually be made of a building that clearly has great potential in spite of its past.

Meanwhile, although Haut de la Garenne is a name which links the site with the long-distant past and can be regarded as a fragment of the Island’s heritage, a case can surely be made for a name change as part of any strategy to rehabilitate what, in objective terms, amounts to no more than granite and mortar.