Chalet Hotel owner wants to renew planning application

The dilapidated 39-bedroom structure on Fermain Lane shut as a hotel on New Year’s Eve 2011 and former owner Vista Hotels started a complicated process of getting permission for flats in 2016.

Permission for 15 flats was finally granted in 2018, but work has not started.

Hand Picked Hotels, which owns St Pierre Park, acquired a number of hotels in September 2021 which used to be owned by Vista Hotels, including the Fermain Valley Hotel and Ziggurat, and the disused Chalet.

Hand Picked Hotels Channel Islands regional general manager Simon Miller said in the planning renewal application that the company was working to integrate the hotels within the group into Hand Picked Hotels portfolio, where possible.

‘This is very much an operational role which is where the focus of the business will be for at least the first year of acquisition,’ he said.

‘This is against the difficult headwinds the guest accommodation sector faces in Guernsey, which I am sure you will be only too well aware of.

‘Given the above, and the long lead in to embark on a major building project such as that agreed at The Chalet, we will not be in a position to implement the current extant residential planning permission at The Chalet ahead of the September 2022 [when the current planning permission expires].'

He said the business still needed to survey the site and complete detailed tender drawings and have a tender process.

‘It is for these reasons that we seek an additional three years to enable us to progress with plans for the Chalet site.’

• The plans can be viewed at www.gov.gg/liveplanningapplications.