St Martin’s constable calls for compulsory purchase of land

St Martin’s was one of three parishes that has responded to the Island Development Plan Review. More than 270 responses to the first phase of the consultation were published yesterday. Many were from professional bodies and developers, as well as members of the public.

Three sites in the St Martin's have been earmarked for affordable housing in the proposals, which have led to concerns.

In his representation, Mr Beausire said more action was needed to get homes built more quickly.

‘Over 2,000 homes have been allocated to the private sector, yet less that 100 are being built a year and these current sites for housing are unsuitable as they are on green areas of land,’ he said.

‘More incentives or compulsory purchase needs to be used to enable the building of social housing on land already earmarked for building.’

He highlighted two privately-owned, derelict hotels in the parish as ideal for redevelopment.

‘We have St Martin’s Hotel site that could accommodate this with direct access on to a main road, or St Margaret’s Lodge could be considered as a compulsory purchase site, again leading off a main road and closer for students to reach Forest and La Houguette schools,’ Mr Beausire said.

He also raised concerns about traffic and the capacity of the parish's primary school if more homes were built.

Only one affordable housing site was allocated in St Peter Port – a field called Selbourne Vinery off Route des Coutanchez – but the parish already has 30% of the island’s population and several sites allocated for housing.

St Peter Port constable Diane Mitchell said parish officials were concerned to see even more homes being proposed for Town.

‘We disagree that Strategic Land Use Plan only focuses on St Peter Port and St Sampson’s for new housing developments, and think it should review all parishes,’ she said.

‘The parish is clear that we do not support any building on green fields.

'We are accepting of building on derelict vineries. We are supportive of building on Selbourne Vinery and would add it to the proposals map.’

The review also proposes extending the L’Aumone local centre to include a field called Le Tassin and the Castel Hospital.

St Peter Port has backed that extension, but Castel douzenier Jo May only supported extending to the hospital.

‘The L’Aumone centre boundary should not be extended to include Le Tassin,’ she said.

‘There are more suitable brownfield sites within the boundary, namely the Castel Hospital and its grounds, as well as the site of the former King Edward hospital, which should be included in the L’Aumone local centre boundary.

'Le Tassin is currently used for agricultural purposes and, should remain as agricultural land.’

n The Development & Planning Authority has requested more time to respond to the initial responses.

It is unclear how long this could take at this stage.

A date for the second round of consultations has not yet been announced.