UK planning agency to begin assessment of harbours
PLANNING work to ensure that St Peter Port and St Sampson’s Harbours ‘live up to their potential’ is due to start in a couple of weeks.
A UK-based planning agency has been asked to prepare local planning briefs for the St Peter Port and St Sampson’s harbour action areas.
The work from Tibbalds Planning and Urban Design, a company which has worked with the States before, most notably on the development frameworks for identified regeneration areas of Town in 2020 and 2021, is the first part of an 18-month process.
‘Our harbours are an integral part of our past, present and future,’ said Development & Planning Authority president Deputy Victoria Oliver.
‘Creating a local planning brief is all about ensuring that our two main harbours live up to their significant potential. We want to protect and preserve all that is good in these areas, while looking for ways in which we can enhance them.
‘However, we need to make sure that any opportunities and challenges are fully considered, which is why we have a set process to follow to make sure that all views are taken into account and different interests are balanced.’
Drafting of the brief could take up to the next six months, involving consultation with States committees and other relevant stakeholders.
They will look at scenarios involving keeping commercial port operations as they are in both harbours, and the possible relocation of commercial activities away from these areas.
The local planning brief will then be subject to public consultation ahead of a planning inquiry, which will give the opportunity for public comment, before the brief goes to the States for approval.
Once approved, it will become part of the Island Development Plan and will set out the land use policies with which all development within the designated harbour action areas must comply. There is also the scope to consider potential interaction between the two action areas and the wider east coast. The briefs will offer policy direction and practical guidance to developers on how a site could be progressed. They aim to ensure that larger strategic development schemes are well-planned from the outset.
Hilary Satchwell, director of Tibbalds Planning and Urban Design, said her team would work with the States to maximise the potential of these areas and get them to work best for the island as a whole.
