National Trust opposes houses on vinery sites

In a letter to the Guernsey Press published today, trust president Mike Brown said that building homes outside of areas currently zoned for residential development – such as Town, the Bridge and parish centres – would be expensive and bad for the environment.

‘If the pressure to deliver dwellings results in easing planning restrictions on derelict greenhouse sites outside of designated areas, the island will lose more open land and have fewer sites available for agriculture or nature conservation,’ he said.

‘Additionally, given the continued pressure on public finances, the States and other agencies would continue to struggle to deliver services and infrastructure to such sites in a cost-effective manner.’

Some deputies, including P&R president Peter Ferbrache and Steve Falla, want to see planning rules liberalised to free up former vinery sites, to help the island reach its recently-agreed objective of building some 1,500 new homes before the end of 2027.

• Podcast: Deputy Falla and Deputy de Sausmarez discuss greenhouses on the latest Guernsey Press Politics Podcast

Mr Brown has criticised the idea as a repeat of mistakes made before an overhaul of States planning policies starting in the 1990s.

He insisted the States must not ‘allow a regressive relaxation of planning policy to return us to the infill and ribbon development prevalent in the 20th century, which has already caused us to lose so much of our unique and precious rural character’.

Environment & Infrastructure president Lindsay de Sausmarez said the island could not undo ribbon development, but needed to learn from its problems.

‘We do have a choice not to make it worse. The greenhouses are scattered around the island. The infrastructure costs which directly affect the cost of housing and cost of living are much greater where there is urban sprawl than when you concentrate developments where they should be in the centres already zoned for residential development,’ said Deputy de Sausmarez, speaking on the Guernsey Press politics podcast, released at the weekend.

Many greenhouse sites would be difficult to connect to utilities and public transport, she said.

‘It would carry on fuelling the cost of housing. We need to be seriously concentrating on making housing more affordable. We shouldn’t be choosing the most expensive form of development, which is urban sprawl.’

Deputy Falla has said the island has no chance of building another 1,500 homes in the next four-and-a-half years unless it relaxed planning rules on former vinery sites.

Deputy Ferbrache wants a new presumption in favour of allowing residential developments in place of derelict greenhouses, and has said he is formulating an action plan to try to address the island’s housing shortage.