There has been a push since the pandemic to livestream more States business which is open to the public. This now includes States meetings and Scrutiny Committee hearings, as well as some press conferences. And open planning meetings could be next.
Former Scrutiny president Yvonne Burford, who led the charge on introducing livestreaming to scrutiny hearings in 2022, took over at the Development & Planning Authority earlier this year.
And she said she was keen to bring that transparency to planning.
Open planning meetings allow the public see the political board make decisions on major or controversial planning applications. But they are held on weekdays, during working hours, making them inaccessible to most.
Deputy Burford told the Guernsey Press Politics Podcast that she would like for more people to be able to see the process.
Hear more from Deputy Yvonne Burford on the latest Guernsey Press Politics Podcast
‘I’m very keen,’ she said, when asked about livestreaming open planning meetings.
‘If I’m not going to be on the DPA anymore, I won’t be part of that decision. But I do hope that the DPA will start livestreaming open planning meetings because necessarily they take place during the week. And that’s not convenient for an awful lot of people.
'To have the ability to go back and look at it, that probably applies to the media as well, is another way of getting all the information out into the public domain, which is something I really support.’
Deputy Burford is Policy & Resources’ preferred candidate for the vacant seat on the top committee, following the resignation of Deputy Jonathan Le Tocq.
The vote on the position is expected to take place in today’s States meeting and the workload of P&R means that members do not usually hold other senior posts.
But it is understood that if Deputy Burford does leave the DPA, the investigations into holding livestreamed open planning meetings will continue.
Open planning meetings were first held in 2013, with the planners, applicants, objectors and supporters all able to address the DPA political board, who then ask the participants questions before making a decision. There have been nearly 50 held since 2013, but they are sporadic. Just three were held last year and one in 2023. Some of the projects heard were Leale’s Yard, Green Acres dementia care home and the former GT Cars site – which is now a Coop En Route.
It is understood that the new DPA committee have been preparing for their first OPM.
‘We held a mock open planning meeting for the committee members,’ Deputy Burford said.
‘Obviously I’ve done them before [when environment department minister between 2012 and 2016], but the other four members hadn’t.
'That went really well, and there’ll be an open planning meeting coming up before the end of the year as well. So it was important to sort of prepare and understand the protocol for how that is done.’
It is understood that the next meeting will likely look at the outline planning application for the Mallard Complex, where 34 homes and 51 flats are proposed. It is not yet known whether that meeting will be livestreamed.
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