Low response to Island Development Plan review

The wide-ranging review is proposing six new affordable housing areas, expanding the L’Aumone local centre, and creating more areas of biodiversity importance.

It will be the biggest change to island planning regulations since the IDP was introduced in 2016 and planning officers have been working hard to get people to engage with the process.

But just six people turned out for a drop-in at St Peter Port constables on Saturday morning.

Development & Planning Authority president Victoria Oliver had expected the St Peter Port event to be well-attended.

There have been a series of drop-ins and presentations around the island, and there was also an online Q&A last week.

While the Town event was quiet, a drop-in at St Martin’s saw more than 40 people attend and express strong feelings.

‘We are trying to make sure everyone can ask questions,’ Deputy Oliver said.

Several dozen people had been expected at the Town event and Deputy John Gollop, who was in the audience, suggested that perhaps the low turn-out was due to people being happy with the changes.

Deputy Oliver believed it was likely that islanders understood the need for housing and that might have helped some people accept the proposals.

‘I know in St Martin’s [which has three new affordable housing areas designated] some people were very upset,’ she said.

‘It is important to remember these are proposed plans. We need to hear people’s voices.’

There are worries about how accessible the process is. The documents are all online, and a new consultation submission button has been recently added to main webpage to make it easier for people to understand how to get involved.

But Deputy Oliver said she was disappointed in the consultation submission form, which requires people to include reference numbers from the review to show which part they are commenting on.

‘We did not have any say in how the form was designed and I think it could have been made simpler for people,’ she said.

Other deputies have expressed concern about the accessibility of the form, and even called for an extension to the deadline for submissions.

The planning officer team is on hand to help people and give advice.

Principal forward planning officer Simone Whyte said she had been surprised by how few people had been asking for help. She urged people to get in touch if they needed any advice or had questions.

For the original IDP review there were more than 1,500 consultation responses. So far the review has only seen a few dozen.

Deputy Oliver said she knew some deputies were preparing responses for parishioners, which still needed to be submitted. But she urged people submit their responses early, so if they had any questions or needed help, the planners would be available.

n The plans can be viewed at https://www.gov.gg/IDP-review

The deadline for responses is Monday 29 July. A drop-in, which is open to all islanders, is taking place at Castel douzaine room, from 5.30pm to 7pm tonight.