Les Blanches covenant for affordable homes could be built upon
A SPECIAL covenant to ensure there is affordable housing at Les Blanches could form the framework for future agreements, Guernsey Housing Association chief executive Steve Williams has said.
Planning permission has been given for the fields behind Manor Stores in St Martin’s to have for 14 flats and 12 dwellings.
Land owner Island Development Ltd had to battle for two years before the plans were approved on appeal in 2017.
One of the conditions of the approval was ensuring that the site only had sheltered housing or affordable housing, after the developer pledged to give some of the land to the GHA.
A formal agreement between the Development & Planning Authority and Island Development Ltd has now been lodged at the Greffe.
It shows that part of the western side of the site will be used by the GHA to build 10 two-bed units.
The new Island Development Plan, which sets planning policy, has rules that mean large developments have to have affordable housing included as part of projects.
However, Les Blanches was approved under the old rural area plan, a DPA spokesman said.
‘We have not yet used the IDP provisions under GP11 due to the 20-unit threshold approved by the States in 2016,’ he said.
‘There is nothing at present in the pipeline other than potentially via approved development frameworks, which if allowing for more than 20 units might give rise to affordable housing contributions requiring a planning covenant in the future.’
Mr Williams said the covenant was an important document, as it could be used as a template for other projects.
‘It could be the framework for a lot of the affordable housing projects, where we are going to be part of a bigger site,’ he said.
Island Development Ltd is now understood to be talking to builders who want to develop the site.
The covenant means that the agreement between IDL and the GHA will be clear if the site changes hands.
So far the GHA has paid only a deposit on the site, which will be returned if the development does not go ahead.
The covenant conditions include the rule that work is not allowed to start until a construction contract for not more than £1.83m. has been signed with the GHA for the building of the affordable housing.
The contract also states that the land must be transferred to the GHA for a price no higher than £166,500.
The developer must inform the D&PA when the units are affordable units which have been built and no more than half of the new homes being built by Island Development Ltd can be occupied until the affordable housing units are finished or almost finished.
There is no timetable yet for when the development could start.
This is the second covenant that has been drawn up by the D&PA.
The first allowed for retail businesses to be allowed at Oatlands, as long as they supported the viability of the tourism business.
The filing of the Les Blanches covenant comes as the planning application for the reserved matter at the site – such as design, external appearance and landscaping – was approved by planners.
