Planners give go-ahead for nine houses at L’Aumone site

The application from developer Infinity Group was for seven three-bed and two two-bed homes behind L’Aumone House, which stands by the L’Aumone traffic lights in Castel.

There were seven letters of representation, raising concerns about the lack of affordable housing in the project and the loss of green space, as well as overlooking and shadowing neighbouring properties.

There were also worries about the narrow, busy Rue du Friquet and impact of adding more cars to the area, although Traffic & Highway Services did not submit a view on the project.

It is believed that this project would be the first phase of a larger scheme.

La Societe tried to add ways to moderate the impact of the project, such as requiring the inspection of existing buildings for bats.

‘La Societe remains concerned over the reclassification of agricultural land to domestic curtilage,’ it said in its representation.

‘However, as the Island Development Plan currently permits the consideration of such applications, we seek to optimise ecological gains in such cases wherever possible.’

Guernsey Water stated the principles of the project were fine.

‘However, the foul sewer within the area is shallow and there is history of sewer surcharging during heavy rainfall events in Les Baissieres, therefore we would request that all surface water is dealt with on site and would not be accepted into the foul or surface water systems,’ it said.

‘The surface water system to the north and west of the proposed development also has a history of flooding issues, which may need to be considered within the development plan.’

The project’s drainage report and surface water management plan said there would be soakaways, with surface water dealt with on site.

The planners looked closely at the impact of housing on the existing homes.

To the west is Maison de Quetteville – a dementia care home.

The planners noted that ‘the occupants are particularly vulnerable to change and loss of privacy'.

The proposed dwellings would be located between 10-13m from the property boundary, and would be 2.5 storeys in height, with a ridge height of 9.8m.

This caused worries for the planners, and the plans were amended to remove first- floor balconies and reduce the window sizes.

This was seen as sufficient to deal with this overlooking issue.

Other proposed dwellings were orientated to avoid overlooking neighbours.

There was once a heated glasshouse on part of the site, leading to the Office for Environmental Health and Pollution Regulation to place conditions on the plans to avoid contamination.

The planners said the multi-storey design made an efficient use of land and it would not be out of character with the area.