Owners of ‘blots on the landscape’ could be fined

Derelict premises and redundant visitor accommodation are among the types of buildings and land that can now be served a civil notice.

Abandoned cars are also included, however people’s personal dwellings and gardens are not.

The notice can be served on landowners to take action where the DPA considers their land to be having a significant negative affect on the appearance of the area.

DPA president Victoria Oliver said the new notices were similar to planning compliance notices.

She said they would be served ‘sparingly and proportionately’, and only if landowners did not act following a warning.

‘I’m not talking about buildings which might be in need of a fresh lick of paint or a property in need of minor repairs, I’m talking about the real blots on our landscape which we are all too well aware of.’

She listed the site of the former Idlerocks Hotel near Jerbourg in St Martin’s as one example of land that could be served with the notice, as well as several properties in and around Mill Street in town.

‘Jerbourg is one of our great tourist spots, all the buses go up there with the tourists from cruise ships in the summer, and they get there and they see the Idlerocks looking like it does.

‘It’s not exactly great for the island’s image, so we are hopeful that these notices will bring revitalisation to certain areas and prevent eyesores from occurring.’

She said such notices already existed in the UK, and their impact had been positive.

‘In the vast majority of cases, owners do remedy the situation, some take longer than others but most do get things fixed.’

In terms of how long landowners would have to act once they were served the notice, Deputy Oliver said that would be decided on a case-by-case basis.

‘Fixing some windows on a Mill Street property would be much simpler than some of the more extensive work that would have to be done on a derelict hotel.’

She hoped the move would prompt owners of large derelict hotels to take action, adding it had been ‘really disappointing’ that only one former hotel site – L’Eree Bay Hotel – had been redeveloped into residential housing following a two-year planning process exemption for a select list of 10 tourism properties announced by the DPA in 2021.

‘The ultimate goal is that we get landowners rectifying the eyesores that have existed for far too long at several sites around the island,’ she said.

• A guidance note with more information is available at gov.gg/land-amenity-improvement-notices.