Sites for light industrial firms ‘increasingly in short supply’
A LOCAL construction group has welcomed Belgrave Vinery’s future prospects as an industrial site, but said members were frustrated by the disruption firms there had faced in the past decade.
The site in St Sampson’s, which also encompasses Fontaine Vinery, is home to a number of local companies, but had previously been earmarked for housing. The Guernsey Housing Association had suggested that 133 homes could be built across the site.
However the latest proposed amendments to the Island Development Plan would see the land redesignated for key industrial expansion.
The Guernsey Building Trades Employers’ Association has supported the proposal, which should help alleviate the pressure for suitable premises.
‘While we welcome Belgrave Vinery being zoned back to key industrial, it is frustrating that a lot of unnecessary disruption and expense was caused when many businesses were forced to move out of the site when it was prioritised for housing several years ago,’ a spokesman said.
He added that the GBTEA believed the rezoning was a sensible step because it recognised the obvious presence of a foul sewer station and other essential infrastructure on the site.
‘This makes it unsuitable for housing without very substantial reconfiguration of that infrastructure,’ he said.
‘Construction and associated industrial, light industrial businesses of all sizes are an important part of our economy, providing a range of local services. They all require premises and yards to base themselves, but with the demand for housing being so great, sites suitable for these industries are in increasingly short supply.’
The site has had a turbulent planning history. It has long been earmarked for housing in both the previous Urban Area Plan and the current Island Development Plan, as well as the 2005 Corporate Housing Programme.
But in the wake of the Leale’s Yard closure, the States made the vinery available for distribution/industrial use on a temporary basis in 2007 and all 12 temporary compounds quickly filled.
Then in 2022 tenants were given until early 2023 to leave as housing plans came forward. But that eviction never happened.
The latest proposals are that the land would be used for industry and storage and distribution uses for the next five years and the longer term.
This latest IDP review is currently inviting consultation and is not due to be debated by the States until April 2026.
