Cannabidiol business looks to use vinery in Castel
A CANNABIS-BASED products business has applied to increase security on a Castel vinery site in case it starts operations there.
Celebrate Ltd has applied to install barbed wire-topped fences, security cameras and lights at Douit Vinery on Douit Lane.
The company has also applied to widen the entrance to the site, which is close to the Vale border.
Original Alternative is registered at the same address as Celebrate Ltd and company director Tina Bolding confirmed it was their application. ‘We are not sure what we will be growing,’ she said. ‘We are waiting to hear from Planning.’
She would not be drawn on what plants could be grown. Her company sells CBD, or cannabidiol, products that are free of the psychoactive element of the plant.
‘We don’t know at the moment,’ she said. ‘It depends on a lot of things.’
The application shows that the applicant wanted high security measures.
Architect Jason Hobbs said his client wanted to install a chain link fence.
‘We feel this may be climbable, so have included an overhang with barbed wire capping,’ he said. ‘We propose this fence around the perimeter of the whole site, between the glasshouse and the boundary features.’
The application states that an access gate could be installed as a security measure, as it would make people driving into the site stop to open it. It notes that commercial vehicles will have to access the site.
A separate application wants permission for a new portal frame building adjoining the existing glasshouse.
‘This new structure remains paramount to the success of this new business venture,’ Mr Hobbs said.
‘The building will be used in conjunction with the existing glasshouse. The glasshouse will be used to grow plants and the building will be used as a processing and packing area for final distribution, along with associated spaces required for this type of industry.’
Original Alternative has a store on North Esplanade.
The applications come on the back of an Alderney consortium saying it wants to cultivate hemp next year. Hemp is the same plant species as cannabis but is harvested before its psychoactive qualities develop.
Conditions for the licences are currently out for consultation with the Home Affairs and Economic Development. The consultation period ends this month and the States aims to be in a position to accept licence applications early next year, in time for crops to be grown and harvested in 2019.
The planning applications can be viewed at Sir Charles Frossard House until 26 December.
