Planning authority steeling itself for IDP representations
IF REPRESENTATIONS are not submitted, then voices will not be heard, the Development & Planning Authority has said as it expects an ‘awful lot’ of representation on its review of the Island Development Plan.
The committee held a drop-in session over the weekend to answer questions and respond to concerns of people regarding its proposed changes to the plan, which were published last week.
‘Based on the feedback I’ve received, we haven’t done the best job at explaining what is happening and what this process is,’ said DPA vice-president Andy Taylor.
‘Most of the conversations I’ve had have been general planning as opposed to being focused on the proposed changes, although it has been an informative session for people to benefit from.’
He added that people seemed most concerned about the allocation of green field sites as housing sites where there is already an over-supply of available land.
‘I’ve spoken to people who have their own sites that haven’t been selected yet still want the chance to have their site allocated so it’s been a lot of explaining the process that they can still make representations,’ said Deputy Taylor.
‘I think there’ll be an awful lot of representations.’
Committee member Deputy Chris Blin said that he had also had conversations with islanders who did not understand the concept of the areas of biodiversity importance.
‘There is a theme of nimbyism with people who have proposed sites next to their homes, but these are still just sites proposed, it does not necessarily mean it will end up happening there. This is people’s chance to get their representations in and they will be taken into account,’ he said.
‘When the inspector comes over, he will have all that evidence to decide on each site.
‘This is a consultation, we want people to talk to us and make representations. If it was all positive feedback, it will have been a very pointless exercise. This is exactly how it needs to be because it is a huge piece of work covering whole areas.’
Deputy John Dyke, also a DPA member, said that one area of concern raised to him privately were the proposed three housing sites in St Martin’s.
‘It’s fair to say that it is not very popular in St Martin’s,’ he said.
‘We’ve had some interesting conversations with some people, there have been some objections and some we’ve satisfied and some are still not satisfied.
‘We’re trying to do this as well as we can, what is difficult is keeping everybody happy. On one hand we’ve got a great shortage of housing and a number of limited sites where we can push it, but we don’t want to over-concentrate it, so there’s quite a lot of balancing, which is why the representations really help.
. The deadline for representations to be made is 5pm on Monday 29 July. They can be made at www.gov.gg/IDP-review.
