LISTEN: Co-op confident Leale's Yard outcome will be different this time
‘I think the big question that your readers will be asking is, why is this time different?’
Mark Cox, chief executive officer of the Channel Islands Co-operative Society, said that the Co-op has learned from its experience of twice previously securing planning permission for the redevelopment of Leale’s Yard, off the Bridge, and not even starting the work.
‘We’ve taken those lessons on board from previous schemes,’ he said.
‘It’s a real shame that we’ve not been able to bring it to meaningful use over the past 20 years.
‘We’re confident that we will get outline planning permission and we’ll be able to bring this scheme to fruition.
‘As I said, the big one is looking at how we deliver it, finding a delivery partner that’s willing to invest in the site with us to make sure that we can bring much-needed housing and a new retail store for our members to the north of the island.’
Listen to a full interview with Co-op CEO Mark Cox on the new plans for Leale's Yard:
Mr Cox said that with two previous permissions, one retail-led and one housing-led, achieved but not progressed, the business understood the route to gain permission.
‘That’s generally the easy bit, delivery’s always been the hard bit.
‘We’re confident now, that having found a good development partner to work with us, that we can deliver the scheme and that’s the important bit.
‘So it is different to previously. We’ve let the community down on two occasions by not being able to deliver this scheme. We didn’t want to go in with a plan this time that was undeliverable.
‘So we’ve done a lot of work upfront to ensure whatever comes out of that planning process we’ll be able to deliver, and in a timely fashion, given the need for housing locally.’
Mr Cox presented the plans to the media yesterday.
‘I think we wouldn’t be here if we weren’t confident.
‘We didn’t want to come out with a new scheme and start to get the community excited if we weren’t confident that we’d be able to deliver it.
‘The work that we’ve done up front working with a development partner [JW Rihoy] is to ensure that it is deliverable.
‘It has been absolutely key to this and equally, looking at how that scheme can be developed, and the speed that it can be developed, against the backdrop of a housing crisis and us needing a new store in the north of Guernsey, are factors we've had to consider.
‘We’re very confident that we can deliver this if we get the outline planning approval, and we’d love to be on site, starting clearance, by the end of the year.’
