St Martin’s residents welcome plans for affordable housing

The site, called Le Penage, is situated along Rue des Caches opposite Les Caches Business Park.

Andy Carre has lived in a property almost directly opposite the site with his partner for seven years. Upon hearing news of the plans, he said it made sense for houses to be built on the site, as it had seemingly been unoccupied for a long time and was not often used.

‘I wouldn’t have any concerns to be honest, it’s a well-known patch of land, but it’s never used now and the island desperately needs some affordable housing which is States-owned,’ he said.

‘It would need to be sensitive to the surrounding area, but there definitely needs to be more houses.’

He said he had recently seen countless examples of homelessness while travelling around Europe, and did not want Guernsey to face a similar situation.

‘Homelessness seems to be everywhere and it’s good that Guernsey doesn’t have as big of a problem, but it is getting worse.’

‘Something needs to be done before it is too late.’

Another resident living along Rue des Caches, David Hibbs, said he would be ‘quite happy’ for houses to be built on the site.

‘When you are on a plane and you fly over the island, so much of it is green. There must be some places suitable to build on, it makes me annoyed that it hasn’t been done sooner,’ he said.

‘I’ve lived here for 34 years and a lot of developments have gone up around here. Another one wouldn’t impact things too much and it would make better use of a site that isn’t really used.’

Elsewhere in St Martin’s, Regency Vinery, near jeweller Catherine Best, has also been put forward as a possible location for affordable housing. That idea has been met with a cooler reaction from neighbouring residents.

Patrick Banfield, who has lived in his property in the nearby Clos du Moulin for 25 years, accepted the reasons why the site had been identified as a suitable place to build on, but said his personal preference was that no work took place.

‘Housebuilding does need to happen and objectively I get it, it’s in a reasonable location, there are amenities nearby, but personally I’d rather nothing happened. I wouldn’t want to be overlooked by anyone and I feel any development here would encroach.’

A fellow nearby resident, who did not wish to be named, was of a similar view.

‘My primary concern would be the traffic, there are narrow lanes around here and the number of extra cars coming in could make things quite difficult,’ she said.

‘But houses do need to be built, it’s a difficult one, I think I’d only be certain of my view if the proposals became more concrete.’

These two proposed sites replace the three St Martin’s sites, which were identified in the summer as possible affordable housing sites.

n To find out more about the proposals visit https://gov.gg/IDP-review

n A public meeting on the proposals is being held for St Martin’s parishioners is being held at the Parish Hall at 6pm tonight.