‘Owners of derelict properties should pay to improve them’
Owners of derelict building could be forced to pay for improvements to their properties, under the latest move to tackle abandoned structures.
Development & Planning Authority president Victoria Oliver has said she is focused on getting empty and derelict property used and economically active again.
A policy letter published last night by the DPA details how civil notices could be issued to force property owners to make improvements. If they fail to do so, the States can step in to do the work and force the property owner to pay.
‘It is for derelict properties, to give us the power to be able to do something with it,’ Deputy Oliver said.
She has been pushing for action since she was elected last term, but it had been delayed due to other priorities. The policy letter details how this was particularly targeted at unsightly disused visitor accommodation and derelict Town buildings.
‘I wanted this last term for the likes of [former hotel] Idlerocks and some of the buildings in Mill Street,’ Deputy Oliver said.
The provisions also aim to deter people from leaving properties to become eyesores.
She said the proposed process would be similar to planning enforcement action, with notices and warnings being sent out before the matter is escalated.
Deputy Oliver said there were lots of options for how to sort out the buildings.
‘It’s not just you have to do the work or we will take the property,’ she said.
‘There are a lot of stages.’
The provision could include requiring property owners to refurbish or rebuild derelict premises in Town to improve the look of the site, forcing owners of redundant visitor accommodation to demolish derelict structures, or requiring a large number of unsightly and scrap vehicles be removed from private land.
Similar provisions already exist in Alderney, Jersey, England and Wales.
Deputy Oliver said the authority had read over the English supplementary guidance to help draw up the local rules, which are amended for Guernsey.
‘It’s already in place in England, so we are a bit behind,’ she said.
‘This will be proportionate for Guernsey.’
The move will cover derelict buildings, but not glasshouses.
Deputy Oliver said her committee had already been trying other methods to get derelict buildings tackled, such as the introduction of three regeneration areas in Town to encourage improvements.
‘But I get a lot of people coming to me saying “I don’t want to invest in a property when the property next door is derelict” and I understand that,’ she said.
She hoped that this move, combined with others, would bring back derelict areas to be economically active again.
It is hoped the matter will go to the States later this year or early next year.
This latest moves follows several announcements to get derelict buildings tackled.
The updated exemptions ordinance – which is due to come in next year – will allow a set number of derelict hotels to be exempt for needing permission for change of use to residential.
The 2023 Budget also announced that Policy & Resources Committee would be looking to move an enhanced TRP charge – which could be five times higher than the standard tariff – be levied on unoccupied and derelict property, in the next year or so.
