Opposition to workers' villages plan dismissed as self-interest

The Guernsey Building Trades Employers Association raised ‘several serious concerns’ about the States fast-tracking a multimillion-pound project to provide basic housing for visiting workers in the construction industry.

The Guernsey Construction Forum claimed that a temporary village, provisionally planned for Les Ozouets, could soon become ‘a £5m. failure’.

P&R president Lyndon Trott told a Scrutiny public hearing that he expected sections of the local building industry to resist his committee’s policy.

‘It won’t endear me to many of my friends in the industry, but you would expect them to say that, wouldn’t you?’ said Deputy Trott.

‘You are talking about introducing significant amounts of competition.

‘Therefore, it is understandable and unsurprising that those with the most significant interests in this would seek to frustrate and delay this process.

‘But it is in the best long-term interests of the community as a whole.’

P&R’s proposal to set aside approximately £5m. to build a temporary village for construction workers and short-term housing for other key workers was backed by the States in November’s Budget debate.

A similar temporary development housed workers on the reconstruction of the airport runway more than a decade ago, and the senior committee sees it as a way of increasing capacity in the construction industry and stimulating the island’s sluggish rate of housebuilding.

‘"We mean business" is the message here,’ said Deputy Trott.

‘We cannot go on with this stasis, where we are building no more new homes than we have over the past few years.

‘Whether it’s the removal of [planning policy] GP11, which we were told was a big hindrance, or the introduction of additional capacity, we will do whatever it takes to alleviate this community’s housing crisis – of that you can be assured.’

The States recently invited expressions of interest from firms able to turn modular housing into a temporary village. It is understood that up to 50 sleeper units could be created at Les Ozouets, alongside the new Guernsey Institute, which is currently under development.

The idea of a temporary village was initially greeted with some enthusiasm by industry spokesmen, but since then concerns have grown over alleged lack of consultation and fears that the project could disadvantage local firms.

P&R member Bob Murray claimed the plan was driven by complaints from industry itself about a shortage of workers and denied it would be discriminatory.

‘There is an assumption this will be something for the States alone,’ said Deputy Murray.

‘It is more than likely this will be available to local builders and developers for housing as well.

'It’s early days as to how we could manage that, but there was no intention completely to exclude locals.’

The States has invited expressions of interest from the UK as well as locally.

P&R vice-president Deputy Heidi Soulsby defended the committee’s attempt to accelerate the procurement process.

‘It’s strange that we’re always hearing complaints that the States takes so long to do anything, and then when we try to do something fast we get told off for that,’ she said.

Deputy Trott also told the Scrutiny hearing there had recently been ‘occasional mixed messages’ from the construction industry, citing the States’ suspension of GP11 as an example.

‘We were told by people in the States and also active in the industry that the removal of GP11 would see an immediate response, and many months on we’ve seen nothing to suggest that has come to fruition,’ he said.