Redevelop? Costs are too high say businesses
HIGH costs are making it unviable to redevelop derelict properties, an Old Quarter business has said.
The area has come under scrutiny as the Development & Planning Authority looks to force owners to tidy up buildings ranging from scruffy to derelict.
The idea was passed in the States this week and legislation will now be drafted to enable the DPA to serve civil notices on landowners who let their properties go to ruin.
But it is feared that some may struggle to sort buildings out.
Furniture store Ideal Furnishings owns a number of buildings in the Old Quarter area, which back onto the Bordage and Mansell Street.
Managing director Steve Argo said that high costs meant that it was currently financially unviable to commence redevelopment work on derelict properties.
‘Recently we got permission to build a three-bedroom house on one of our sites, and were told that its value would be in the region of £500,000.
'We got a quote back for the total cost of the redevelopment work which was going to be about £765,000.
'We would like to do something, but the costs are so extreme and we would immediately go into debt.’
Mr Argo added that he thought the DPA proposals were a very good thing, but would like to see more financial help offered in the form of grants.
‘In Scotland where I lived and worked previously, they offer extensive funding and grants to those who own historical or listed buildings.
'It would be good if the grants system here was improved.’
St Peter Port senior constable Zoe Lihou said that several properties in Town, particularly commercial and residential properties in and around Mill Street and Mansell Street, were derelict and not in a fit state.
‘It seems like a lot of the properties have been bought purely for land banking purposes with nothing planned for them.
'So many of them are completely uninhabitable.
'There’s a three foot-long buddleia growing out of one of them,’ she said.
Mrs Lihou added that she would be paying close attention to how the DPA proposals would be implemented.
She said that she considered the buildings to be blots on the area, and thought that the building owners were in dereliction of their duty to look after their properties.
‘There are good businesses who are community-minded, such as Mocca coffee shop [a new business in Contree Mansell], who have suggested ways to brighten up the area in the past through floral displays.
‘But unfortunately you also get a lot of errant property owners who complain that they don’t have the money to carry out maintenance work, and create an even bigger financial problem by not doing anything at all.’
