Planners give green light to proposals for Leale’s Yard

The Development & Planning Authority is now expected to make a final decision on the development at an open planning meeting on Wednesday.

The officers’ 53-page report has assessed all aspects of the Leale’s Yard proposal and the concerns around it, including consultations with various stakeholders, and is recommending that the political board should approve it.

‘It is concluded that the balance of benefits accruing from delivery of the scheme outweigh the concerns which can be mitigated so far as possible,’ they said.

‘Consequently, it is recommended that outline planning permission be granted subject to conditions and subject to the entry by the owners into binding planning covenant agreements in a form satisfactory to the DPA.’

The Channel Islands Co-operative Society, which bought the site in 1998, and at one point planned a massive retail development on it, is now hoping that it is third time lucky for a proposal to get off the ground.

Small business tenants were obligated to leave the site in 2008 in preparation for its development, but it has lain derelict ever since.

Its latest £100m. plans for the seven-acre site were revealed in April, including 338 residential units, a multi-storey car park for 300 cars, some 14,000sq m of retail and commercial floorspace, and associated landscaping, service roads and infrastructure.

It is hoped that it will provide much-needed housing and spark a regeneration of the Bridge and north of the island. The plans have largely received support within the community.

In a consultation questionnaire released to the public early in the year, it was found that more than nine out of 10 islanders backed the proposals, and of more than 600 who responded, half were parishioners from Vale or St Sampson’s, of whom almost 95% were in favour.

But for islanders who attended various open meetings and parish drop-ins following the announcement of the proposal, traffic management and already overcrowded roads were a primary concern.

Traffic & Highway Services found in its assessment of the area that while the scale of development was huge in Guernsey terms, the traffic impacts were manageable, if changes were made to the highway and junctions near the site.

‘This will require changes to be made to highway/junction control near the site, including replacement of the mini roundabout at the junction of the Bridge and Vale Avenue with traffic signals,’ it said.

‘The transport assessment is suggesting that Vale Avenue/

Braye Road junction will be around theoretical capacity once development sites are delivered, but the applicant is suggesting that any remedial measures considered to be required should not be their responsibility.’

THS accepted that the development would not be the sole cause of junction capacity issues but has deemed it appropriate for the developer to fund a proportion of the traffic management measures required.

Open planning meeting

THE fate of Leale’s Yard will be decided next week as the proposal is considered at an open planning meeting.

There will be public speaking opportunities, but only for those islanders who had previously submitted representation, or who have notified the Planning Service of their intention to speak.

The meeting will take place in the Cambridge and Delancey rooms at Beau Sejour on Wednesday, starting at 9.30am.