Northern parishes concerned that housing sites clash

Planners have approved a development framework for the construction of more than 300 new homes on the former Fontaine and Belgrave Vineries site.

However, the parishes have warned in a statement that the plans may ‘delay or stop’ development at Leale’s Yard, a site near the Bridge that has already been earmarked for development.

‘[Building] 313 homes on Belgrave Vinery would be a disaster not only to the north but for the whole island,’ said officials of the two parishes.

‘However you view it, this has the potential to become a very large housing estate on an already over-capacity road network and with no easy access to the facilities and amenities that those living there will need.’

St Sampson’s douzenier Rob Gill said he does not believe the Fontaine and Belgrave development will be stopped, but he thinks it should be re-examined by the States.

‘The concern is that development in the Fontaine/Belgrave area will prevent much-needed community development in the Bridge area,’ he said.

The group is also worried about the location of the Fontaine and Belgrave development site following the recent Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change report which stated that sea levels

are definitively rising due to human activities.

Mr Gill said the former vineries are located at sea level and could be at risk of future flooding.

‘The proposed Fontaine and Belgrave Vineries site currently experiences regular water-logging, which is exacerbated by increasing rainfalls.

Future flooding from rising sea water levels are anticipated due to the lack of coastal defence improvements,’ the group said.

Although Mr Gill said no local studies have been conducted on the impact of sea level change on the site, he trusts the general conclusions of the IPCC report stating the inevitability and dangers of sea level rise.

‘This [development] approval comes just one week after the IPCC published warnings of increasingly extreme weather events, and it ignores multiple public representations, including that of St Sampson’s douzaine, which details the potential risks of building on a flood plain,’ they said.

Mr Gill added that twice each year, douzeniers access the property as part of their seasonal duties. They walk the path of four streams to check that they are cleared of debris and remain free flowing.

‘We always wear wellies when we walk the property because the ground is so wet and marshy,’ Mr Gill said.

He added that builders could compensate for sea level rise with improved seawalls, but the States could not mitigate heavy rainfall and increasingly bad weather.

‘The prospect of between 125 and 313 social or affordable new homes being created at this time is something that many parishioners would support, but only in the right place with the proper support and infrastructure.

'The Fontaine Belgrave vinery is not it,’ the douzaine and constables said in a joint statement on the valeparish.gg website.