Roffey slams DPA’s rejection of plans for waste stockpile

Deputy Peter Roffey said his first reaction was to lodge an appeal.

‘I think that in my long States experience this is probably the worst “comedy of errors” and self-inflicted wound I have ever seen,’ he said.

Members of the Development & Planning Authority rejecting Guernsey Waste’s proposal to dump inert waste on a site at Longue Hougue at an open planning meeting on Monday. The proposal would have led to the creation of a nine-metre high stockpile, which would be built up over a period of three years.

The DPA was told that by this time the States should have progressed with a new permanent site and it would then take another three years for the stockpile to be moved across.

Ultimately three members of the committee – John Dyke, Sasha Kazantseva-Miller and Chris Blin – voted to reject the plans. Andy Taylor voted to approve them and president Victoria Oliver wanted to defer a decision.

Deputy Roffey said the plans had been approved by planning officials and nobody had raised any objections.

Some concerns were expressed by the Guernsey Development Agency, and the meeting heard that some changes were made as a result.

By voting the plans down, the island’s waste disposal and building industry have been plunged into chaos, Deputy Roffey said.

‘What was worse is that it was clear to all in the room that rather than simply doing their job – and deciding if the application could be permitted within planning policy – DPA members had decided to set themselves up as a shadow Guernsey Waste and suggested alternative schemes.’

He said it would have been bad enough if the members had spoken with one voice, but different alternatives had been suggested. He said the DPA had ‘put a massive spoke in the local construction industry’s wheel and the whole community will suffer as a result’.

The STSB had long been giving warnings of the ‘car crash coming towards us’.

The problem had come after the States had approved Longue Hougue South as the preferred site for inert waste.

This needed a planning inquiry to take place, but Deputy Roffey said the then Policy & Resources committee, had blocked the necessary funding for it.

While he accepted that it was the right of members to disagree with the States, rather than call for a fresh debate, the committee had ‘undermined it via secondary means.’

So while Longue Hougue South was still the preferred site for inert waste, it cannot move forward.

Following the DPA decision Deputy Roffey said neither Guernsey Waste nor the STSB had any idea what sort of application might succeed and it did not have time to draw up a fresh one.

‘My instinct is to instantly appeal this myopic decision,’ he said.

‘But that will be a decision for my whole committee.’

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