George Wilkinson was speaking on behalf of Southfields Property Co., which owns the Les Ozouets Vinery site between the road and Footes Lane, which he suggested could take up to 200 of these homes which could be made available for rental.
He asked planning inspector Keith Holland to consider enlarging the existing centre boundary to include the vinery area.
The factory-built, steel chassis and transportable units are designed for rapid on-site installation and Mr Wilkinson said they were high quality homes which could be delivered within a relatively short space of time, as he highlighted the lack of properties built in recent years.
The idea would be to develop the site’s utilities and amenities as if it was going to take permanent housing but use the park homes to provide rental accommodation for 10 to 15 years, by which time the housing market could be in a condition where the site could be converted to permanent homes.
Mr Wilkinson made it clear that, unlike the modular houses that had once been suggested for the Leale’s Yard site, park homes would not be physically difficult to import into the island.
Forward planning officer Simone Whyte asked who would live in these homes, and whether skilled people would move to the island for ‘the dream’ of living in a static caravan.
But while the Development & Planning Authority agreed that this kind of accommodation was an option, it was not necessarily on this particular site at the scale proposed.
Another area of St Peter Port that was discussed at the hearing was 9.5 acres of land at Les Baissieres that is owned by the Blue Diamond Group and which Andrew Ozanne, speaking on behalf of the company, said could be regarded as an ‘opportunity site’.
This could see it being used to provide community facilities, including park land, and development could take place in up to three phases, if necessary.
Mr Holland asked about access to the site, which appeared to be via a narrow lane to the south.
Paul Nobes of developers Infinity said it had spoken to three of the four property owners nearby about access, but Mr Ozanne said Blue Diamond had not negotiated this yet.
Mrs Whyte said that feedback received during consultations had suggested that people wanted developments to go down a more sustainable route in looking at land in the defined centres, rather than standalone sites.