The island’s largest residential development project was given ‘super priority’ status in a draft government work plan published by Policy & Resources last week.
But the time it will take to clear the former industrial site and carry out other preparatory work will prevent most of the hundreds of homes planned there, and possibly all of them, from being available until sometime after the next general election in three-and-a-half years’ time.
‘I think it would be unrealistic to expect any significant number of completed housing units at Leale’s Yard to be ready for people actually to live in by the end of this political term,’ said P&R president Lindsay de Sausmarez.
She believed there ‘might be some, but not hundreds’ of units completed before then, but guaranteed there would be ‘visible signs of progress’ on the 13-acre site, which the Coop recently sold to the States after failing with numerous plans to turn it into housing over the past 25 years.
‘Housing doesn’t go up overnight and Leale’s Yard in particular is quite a complex site. It’s a very large site, there are things on it already, and it needs to be cleared safely and responsibly,’ she said.
‘You can’t just start putting up houses today. You have to do a lot of work to clear a site that potentially involves contaminated land. It’s got some quite challenging aspects. Before we get to the point where houses start going up, you will see a lot of work on infrastructure.’
It was announced in 2023 that new homes at Leale’s Yard would be ready to move into by the end of 2024 but that scheme, using modular construction, was soon hit by delays.
Earlier this year, the developers offered to sell the States 90 apartments for key workers at a cost of £34m., alongside private homes, shops, a civic square and a large green space, which they said could have been finished within two-and-a-half years.
But the deal was rejected by the previous P&R after developers allegedly failed to obtain an adequate valuation of the scheme or provide essential commercial and legal information. Instead it lined up a £4.5m. purchase of the site which was completed in August.
Deputy de Sausmarez told the latest Guernsey Press Politics Podcast that it could still be a couple of years before the development of housing on the site becomes clearly visible, with related infrastructure as well as site clearance required first.
‘By improving infrastructure in the area – transport infrastructure, energy infrastructure and flood infrastructure – we can deliver benefits to an area that is much broader than the Leale’s Yard site itself,’ she said.
‘We can, for example, alleviate a lot of the traffic problems currently experienced in the area by improving infrastructure using the Leale’s Yard site. We have to make sure it works in terms of the surrounding area and adjacent sites, but it’s worth it. It’s important that we do it right and we don’t rush headlong into trying to get units up as quickly as possible.
‘We will do our best to articulate the work that is going on so people understand what we’re doing and why.’