Leale’s Yard ‘ideal to provide housing for older people’

Michelle Le Clerc, president of Employment & Social Security, also suggested that the Leale’s Yard site could be used to build new housing for older islanders – and free up other homes across the island.

She believes that ‘whatever development is finally approved and begins, it would need to be a regeneration project and would require quite a lot of government subsidy’.

Referring to ideas for homes for older people on the site, she said: ‘If they are living in a big house on their own at the moment, maybe it is two storeys tall, it might not be a home well catered to their needs.

‘This is a prime opportunity to build houses for older people to free up more of the single-occupancy houses across the rest of the island – it has great bus routes, it’s flat and there are shops and green areas nearby.’

Deputy Le Clerc also said: ‘There are lots of areas in the island with planning permission and we should prioritise those areas first.’

Guernsey Housing Association chief executive Steve Williams also called for ‘financial assistance’ to kick-start the redevelopment.

Current plans for Leale’s Yard proposed by the Channel Islands Co-operative Society were not economically viable in today’s market, he said.

‘There are so many positives in starting development, we are all keen for it to happen. It is a brownfield site and would also rejuvenate the Bridge, so something should be done, but it needs financial assistance and a redesign.’

However, Mr Williams said development needed to be a joint contract of private and States investments.

‘I have spoken to lots of private investors in the island and they are interested in some of the land, but not all of it.

‘The market has moved on since the Co-op designed the plans, and for them to happen it would need an amazing market. While the market today is okay, it is not good enough to sustain a development like this.’

While putting 410 housing units up at one time would ‘flood the market’, he added: ‘There are only so many new buyers at any one time so development should be staggered, working around the site.’

Both Mr Williams and Deputy Le Clerc agreed that a mix of retail and residential units would be best suited in the current market, where green areas in the planning framework would provide essential corridors for wildlife to flow between other green spaces such as Delancey Park and Bordeaux.

‘Early conversations have taken place between relevant States committees with the GHA about the whole development,’ added Deputy Le Clerc.