Cobo field goes on sale for £350,000
ONE of the last remaining green fields within the local centre boundary at Cobo is on the market for £350,000, with no planning permission.
The small 819 sq. m field beside the Cobo Mission Hall is just larger than three tennis courts., and has been valued at £427 per sq. m of grass.
A purchaser would be expected to seek building permission, as the field does not currently have it. But it falls just inside the boundary of the local centre at Cobo, an area which has seen plenty of construction activity in recent times, and as a result, it is more likely to get permission granted.
For comparison, a field more than six times the size but just over a mile and a half away on Rue du Dos D’Ane, outside the local centre, is on sale for £65,000 – £13 per sq. metre.
Estate agent Lovells said in its marketing for the field that with the right planning approvals ‘this could be the perfect spot for your next project’.
It is believed the field belongs to an open market home owner opposite, which is also on sale with Lovells for £1.1m. It was last sold in 1990 for £15,000, which with inflation would mean it would be worth about £36,000 today.
Peter Bell lives opposite the field. He said that without planning permission in place he thought the field was only worth £50,000.
‘I’m not sure they would get planning permission because it would block the bungalow behind it, so I don’t believe building on it would be inevitable,’ he said. ‘I would rather not see housing on it as it would block our view of the sea.’
Another neighbour believed the site had planning permission for two houses in the past, but this had lapsed more than a decade ago.
‘It is a bit of an eyesore at the moment as the weeds grow six foot high on it,’ she said.
‘But I would prefer it not to be housing as it’s one of the few green spaces we have left. Cobo’s just become one big building site recently.’
Cobo local centre has been under particular pressure of development in recent years. The length of nearby Rue du Bouverie is now filled with houses. A former hotel car park now has three houses on it, while another house was demolished and replaced with three homes. Permission was also granted for two homes at the end of another garden in the road.
Just around the corner, on Le Feugre, a 600sq. m square of grass, with a garage and greenhouse and surrounded by houses, was being marketed for £550,000 last year and has since been sold. Another close neighbour, Mandy Clarke, said she would be sad to see the green spaces go.
‘I know we have a housing problem across the island, and building on it is almost inevitable. I would just hope that someone buys it to protect it,' she said.
