Fontaine Vinery site’s 91 new homes could cut waiting list

The Guernsey Housing Association, with support from Employment & Social Security, has made the planning application.

This would be the first phase of development on the large site, which sits to the west of Vale Road and Le Murier.

These properties will be a mix of social rental and partial ownership targeted at aspiring first time buyers and homes for keyworkers.

Mr Williams said there were 549 people on the waiting list – with just over 200 waiting for partial ownership and the rest waiting for suitable rental properties.

He added that Health & Social Care was also keen to have up to 60 key worker properties to help support healthcare staff.

This site would help provide properties to cover some of these demands.

‘After an extensive design process we are delighted that our architects Create have submitted the planning application, and we can make real progress towards meeting the housing needs of people in the island who cannot afford or find suitable accommodation,’ he said.

Employment & Social Security president Peter Roffey said: ‘I’m really excited by the plans for this site, which place a real focus on improved travel options and amenity value for future residents, as well as making significant inroads into meeting the island’s affordable housing requirements.’

The design is a mix of two-storey houses, with some three-storey one-bedroom apartments to give variation and make good use of the land.

The development aims to house single people, couples and some families with 50% of the homes being one-bed apartments, 30% two-bedroom houses, and 20% three-bedroom houses, plus three four-bed houses, as this reflects the waiting lists for rental and partial ownership. Properties are all offered to local residents, many of whom may already be living in the parish, but in overcrowded and unsuitable accommodation.

A tender process for local contractors capable of building 91 homes will start in due course.

Until then the build costs are estimates and remain commercially sensitive.

The application has been submitted to the Development & Planning Authority and will be published by the Planning Service in due course.

If planning permission can be obtained within the next six months, construction could start in spring 2023, with the first homes being completed by summer 2024. The housing will be completed and occupied in phases.

Mr Williams said it was planned to get this site under way before work started on Kenilworth Vinery – another site the association will be developing, which is about half a mile away.

The site is also only a quarter of a mile from Pointues Rocques – a private development site, which currently has a planning application for 30 dwellings, 10 flats, 12 maisonettes and 16 affordable houses under consideration with planners. The GHA has been working with the site owners on that site.