Pointues Rocques house build ‘delayed by years’

OPPONENTS of a housing project at Pointues Rocques off Delancey have delayed the development by years, the project architect has said.

Director of architectural designers PF+A Peter Falla says the development at Pointues Rocques has been designed to encourage more active travel, including cycling. (Picture by Luke Le Prevost, 31083097)

On Wednesday politicians on the Development & Planning Authority gave their consent for 68 homes to be built on the controversial St Sampson’s site that has been zoned as a housing target area since 2006.

Peter Falla, from PF+A Architecture, welcomed yesterday’s decision from an open planning meeting after years of uncertainty about building on the site, which has been allocated for housing under the Island Development Plan since 2016.

He said Pointues Rocques would be a fantastic amenity for the island.

‘Building homes on a site allocated for housing in a housing crisis should be fairly straightforward,’ he said.

One of the biggest concerns consistently raised about the project involved traffic, which was outside the mandate of the DPA, said Mr Falla.

‘Simple changes to road junctions could bring great improvements and avoid the need for prohibited streets [residents’ access only],’ he said.

‘This would involve modest changes to some people’s gardens for which they would be compensated. But I think because of peer pressure, some owners have not engaged with Traffic & Highway Services, as they do not want to be seen to be helping the development.

‘This has created the need for complex solutions to found for things outside the plan which has used up hundreds of hours of staff at Environment & Infrastructure’s time and increased anxiety for other neighbours.’

DPA member Deputy Bob Murray told Wednesday’s open planning meeting at Beau Sejour that he was concerned about adopting UK solutions by using London-based Arup Design as traffic consultants.

‘We need to find Guernsey solutions to Guernsey problems,’ he said.

Arup is a renowned leader in its field and has previously been involved with more than 50 local projects, including some around schools, according to Mr Falla.

‘People have rubbished them but they are about the best you can get,’ he said.

When T&HS did checks and balances against the Arup findings, the two were very similar.

Amendments were made to the traffic arrangements since the politicians went against the planning officers’ advice by rejecting the application last autumn.

Overlooking issues on the western boundary had been addressed by changing the design to the foundations of a retaining wall. The site of homes adjacent to St Clair House had also been altered slightly to help with a similar problem there.

Mr Falla also said it was a myth that St Sampson’s was overdeveloped, with less than 4,000 homes in the parish, while there were 9,000 in St Peter Port.

People were complaining about density on the Pointues Rocques site, when more than 300 homes were being earmarked for Leale’s Yard, he added.