Affordable housing policy ‘not stifling development’
BLAMING a States development policy for failing to encourage new housing developments shows a misunderstanding of how it might work, Employment & Social Security and the Guernsey Housing Association have said.
GP11 is the Island Development Plan policy which requires sites of 20 or more new homes to include a proportion for affordable housing and it has been suggested that it either be removed or suspended and see if that leads to more homes being built. Since its introduction, it is argued that no affordable homes have been built under the policy.
But ESS and the GHA strong refute any suggestion that the policy stifles development.
‘The committee and GHA are highlighting that the policy was designed to ensure that adjustments can be made if evidence showed that the policy would render a development financially unviable,’ said the two bodies in a joint statement.
ESS said it believed that GP11 was an important way of securing land for affordable housing at no cost to the developer.
‘The idea that removing GP11 is the panacea to addressing the current housing supply problems is simply not true,’ said ESS president Peter Roffey.
It was his amendment to a States debate on the IDP in 2016, which saw the introduction of the policy.
It was designed to not place a disproportionate burden on developers while also securing land for affordable housing.
‘Where GP11 would render a development unviable, then adjustments can be made, so as not to discourage development.
‘We are not helping ourselves by constantly suggesting or implying to developers that GP11 might be removed.
‘With the current housing supply issues facing Guernsey, the last thing we should be doing is peddling uncertainty for developers.’
GHA chief executive Steve Williams said the reason for the lack of development was more complex, and when GP11 and the Island Development Plan was introduced in 2016 there was a period of stagnation in the housing market and so it was not seen as a profitable time to develop.
‘However, now that there is great demand for further development, preparations can be made for new homes, but this takes time for developers to put into motion.
‘Developments need to be financed, designed and planned, which can’t happen overnight.’
Deputy Nick Moakes, in an article in the Guernsey Press last week, said the policy had ‘almost certainly contributed to the housing crisis by stopping larger developments from going ahead’.
The Guernsey Party, of which Deputy Moakes is a member, has consistently criticised the policy and it is now under threat of potential withdrawal if members force a States debate.
Deputy Moakes has suggested a compromise of suspending it, and seeing if it would lead to more homes being built.
‘There are different opinions on GP11,’ he said yesterday.
