DPA gives protected building status to 64 Second World War structures
MORE than 60 World War Two structures have been given listed building status in an unusual move by the Development & Planning Authority.
German Naval Batterie Strassburg at Jerbourg has been given grade A protection – a status reserved for outstanding buildings.
The batterie is made up of 64 World War Two features across the headland, including field gun positions, machine gun posts, ammunition, personnel and observations bunkers.
Festung Guernsey has been closely involved with the process.
Chairman Paul Bourgaize said the move would protect the area for the future.
‘It’s taken quite a while and we are pleased with the result,’ he said.
He added that other similar sites would also benefit from similar protections.
Letters have been sent to Jerbourg landowners.
DPA president Victoria Oliver thanked Festung – which is an initiative with an interest in WWII fortifications – for its support in surveying and researching the features that form this historic structure.
‘Although there is special interest in each of these individual features, when they are considered collectively as the naval battery, the high level of special interest becomes even more apparent,’ she said.
‘Part of the DPA’s role is to protect and preserve our island’s heritage, look, feel and culture, of which the German occupation and the associated structures form a significant part.
'Designating these as a Grade A Protected Building offers the protection that a site of this significance deserves.’
The move to give them protected building status is unusual.
Occupation structures have been listed before, but the more prominent sites such as Mirus Batterie and the Pleinmont Observation Tower are classed as protected monuments.
Protected monuments status is for structure, ruins and monuments, rather than buildings.
