Parking ban signs had no legal standing for 19 years
SIGNS warning people of a fine if they park their car at Elizabeth House in St Peter Port have not been valid for nearly 19 years, it has emerged.
What should have been a fairly routine application for the renewal of a terre a l’amende order ended up being rejected after this came to light.
Advocate Martyn Baudains represented the site’s owners, Talon Ltd, and told the court that the original 10-year terre a l’amende order was made in 1990.
But he admitted that the signs warning people of the potential £50 fine had not been removed.
Deputy Bailiff Richard McMahon asked if permission had been given for the signs erected as a result, and whether this was tied in with the trespass order being in place.
Advocate Baudains said he did not know.
Mr McMahon said that those who asked for a terre a l’amende must provide evidence that they have a problem.
The amount of time since the order had lapsed meant that in his view this needed to be treated as a new application.
Given the presence of the invalidated signs, there was no evidence of unwanted parking.
But since the signs should not have been there, Mr McMahon was not prepared to treat this as a renewal application.
He turned the request for the order down, telling Advocate Baudains that he should return with evidence of unwanted parking on the site.
Talon Ltd has an application pending to the Development & Planning Authority for changes to the Elizabeth House car park.
It is seeking permission for it to be resurfaced and for the installation of nine car stacking units.
. Terre a l’amende signs are exempt from requiring planning permission under the Land Planning and Development (Exemptions) Ordinance.
