‘It was a mistake not to go to open planning’

Deputies on the DPA have come under fire recently for ignoring repeated calls for an open planning meeting over the redevelopment of La Roseliere at Cobo, instead leaving it to planners to approve out of the public eye the scheme for a new, larger house.

DPA president John Gollop said this week that he had backed holding an open planning meeting, but had been persuaded against it.

‘Open planning meetings are annoying for staff, because they take up a lot of resources,’ he said.

‘We are down on our numbers. Rather than be like Jersey, where they have more money and have a planning panel, we try not to overdo the panels.’

Deputy Gollop said in this case the board and the planners had discussed having an open planning meeting. He had been in favour, but when he heard that of the original 26 objections, only seven had objected to the revised plan, he backed down.

‘In hindsight, that was a mistake,’ he said. ‘I do wish we had had a meeting, but if we had, the result would have been the same and it would have cost the taxpayers money.’

He said even in contentious decisions it was not always right to hold a meeting. ‘It’s unfair perhaps on applicants and opponents to have an open planning meeting in public, if it’s unlikely the decision will be one that won’t go either way.

‘In the case of the second [revised La Roseliere] application, it was likely that five members of the panel would have approved the application, despite the viewpoints of the Castel deputies and douzaine. And the reason it would be approved is that it was in conformity of States [planning] policy.’

He said if the board had decided to ignore the planners and reject the application, the applicant would have taken it to a planning appeal, where an appointed panel would be likely to approve it, based on the law.

‘The days when politicians could reflect the populist, parochial view, based on responses, is no more,’ he said.

‘We are now in a situation where planning has been de-politicised.’

He admitted there was no criteria for when to hold an open planning meeting, with the matter being decided on an ad-hoc basis by politicians and planners.

This has resulted in applications ranging from a new campsite to a large housing development going before the board.

‘We have got to make a decision whether we will have more open planning meetings, like Alderney and Jersey – all applications are heard in Alderney and a lot in Jersey,’ he said.

‘It seems to me there is no automatic process where an open planning meeting happens in Guernsey. It’s decided by consensus process between planners and deputies. But maybe we need a more formal process which would automatically trigger an open planning meeting. Like if more than one deputy calls for one. Or maybe when there are 15 or more representations. But currently we don’t have a criteria.’

Open planning meetings

They give the public the opportunity to see the deliberations of the Development & Planning Authority political board and how planning decisions are reached.

The planners present their planning report to the board, explaining how they reached their recommendation and how the application complies with planning policy.

People who objected or supported the application are allowed to make representations to the politicians.

The scheme was introduced in 2011.

Meeting agendas have been published online since 2013, when eight meetings were held. Six meetings were held in 2014 and again in 2015. Four were held in 2016 and three in 2017. Two have been so far in 2018, with no further dates having been added to the official website yet.

Possibly the best known open planning meetings involved the change of use of Greenacres Hotel in St Martin’s into a dementia care facility and the granting of permission for housing at Les Blanches in St Martin’s.