Freeing up unused office space for residential ‘is a good step’
CONVERTING upper floor of retail sites and offices into residential homes could become much easier under a proposed shake up of the rules.
The Development & Planning Authority is looking to increase its list of exemptions to planning applications.
One of the most significant of these would be allowing the conversion of empty upper floor commercial spaces in Town and the Bridge into homes.
Currently the DPA is consulting with architects, developers and builders to get their feedback on the proposals before a policy letter goes before the States later this year.
Architect Peter Falla said that freeing up unused office and shop space to increase the number of homes was a real opportunity.
‘It’s quite a good step because it’s one way to address what seems to be a housing shortage.
‘If you have a look along Mill Street there is quite a lot of side doors, you obviously can’t have people going through a shop to get to their flat, but if you look carefully, certainly around the Mill Street area, you’ll see lots of little side doors that get you up there anyway.’
Other exemptions suggested by the DPA would allow for bigger garden sheds, and wider garages and driveway entrances to accommodate the trend for bigger cars.
Chimneys, dead hedges, signs and interpretation boards, which have all been noted in the past for clogging up the system, are also under review.
Mr Falla said he would providing a long letter of feedback, but generally he thought it was a move in the right direction.
‘For us welcoming exemptions is a bit like shooting ourselves in the foot, but actually it will be great because it will take the pressure off the planning department in terms of speeding up the process.
‘If they can get rid of a bit of dross they can concentrate on the really serious applications.
‘So it’s a sensible tweaking of the rules to perhaps be more usable.’
Aside from the exemptions, Mr Falla had a bonus piece of feedback for the planners to help make the system quicker and simpler.
He said he was impressed with the approach of new DPA president Deputy Victoria Oliver, but would like her staff to be a bit more engaging.
‘We’ve lost all personal contact with them, we have to email them. We can’t ask them to come to a site just to give a bit of advice, that sort of relationship is gone really, and I miss having a planning officer that you could have a real good chat to before you got going with a scheme.
‘And probably they end up creating a lot of work for themselves by not giving that input right at the start in an informal way to set you off in the right direction.
‘They can’t win. When they approve something they get stick for it, and they’ve become very cautious and that has slowed everything down.
‘In Guernsey one of the biggest insults to knock around is to call somebody a developer.
‘It’s a dirty word in Guernsey, and actually they do an amazing job and it’s quite high risk, especially now with prices going up, and the cost of pre-sold houses staying where they are.
‘It’s a dicey time.’
