GHA’s Charroterie plans backed by parish officials
ST PETER PORT parish has given its backing to plans for 57 one-bed flats to be built on the former CI Tyres site.
The Guernsey Housing Association’s plans for a 10-storey building on the Charroterie site – now renamed Domaines Des Moulins – were submitted in November.
The deadline for consultations is Tuesday.
The parish submitted its thoughts on the plans yesterday.
Diane Mitchell, the douzaine’s lead on planning, said one member of the committee had opposed the plans due to concerns about the amount of development and residents in St Peter Port. But overall the parish has given the scheme its backing.
The former garage buildings were demolished in 2018, leaving the site empty.
Mrs Mitchell said the current site was not attractive.
‘I think this will spruce it up,’ she said. ‘I think the plans will be great.’
The parish agreed this was an ideal site for key workers. It is close to the Town and the hospital, while also being on a main bus route.
But Mrs Mitchell said there were some concerns. The site will have 20 parking spaces beneath the tower block – about one space per three flats.
Mrs Mitchell said there was a general issue with a shortage of parking in the area and the parish was keen to not see this get worse.
‘We thought that if they have electric vehicles for people to use, that could be a viable option,’ she said.
She hoped the plans would be decided at an open planning meeting, as it was such a large scale project, it was important for islanders to see how the decision was made.
She said the parish had carefully considered these plans and development in St Peter Port in general.
And in principle the parish would support development on brownfield sites, like the former Charroterie garage, but was against development on green fields.
The parish is already home to nearly a third of the island’s population and is twice as densely populated as St Sampson’s.
However the Island Development Plan directs the majority of new housing towards the main centres – Town and St Sampson’s.
If these plans are approved, the GHA is hoping to carry out cliff stabilisation work next summer and start the main build programme in October.
The plans can be viewed at https://www.gov.gg/liveplanningapplications.
Extra information has been provided to the planners about how the new tower block would impact Montville Drive. The road, which links Hauteville to Colborne Road, is home to a small number of houses, some of which are quite grand.
In the latest letter to planning officers, project architects Lovell Ozanne provide two new photo-montages to show the height of the building against Montville Drive.
These looked at the ‘worst-case’ scenario in terms of vegetation screening.
The documents state that the proposed building sits below eye level and the skyline and would have a low impact on the view.
‘The complementary colouring of the building also helps assimilate the mass into the view’s background.’
