Neil Inder defended his committee’s decision not to follow recommendations of independent planning inspector Keith Holland in its final draft of the updated Island Development Plan.
It has only recommended two extra sites for affordable homes, taking the total allocated to nine, rather than an extra six as put forward by Mr Holland.
‘We need to remember that the inspector’s report is independent, but it isn’t binding. It will ultimately be up to the States to decide if enough land has been allocated for affordable housing and to make the decision about which of these sites should be allocated,’ said Deputy Inder.
‘We need to see if this new approach will help to actually deliver housing. To some extent this will be a case of wait and see.’
He said the DPA expected to review progress made on the nine sites after 12 months and could deallocate any that were not moving forward, and fall back on some of Mr Holland’s alternative suggestions.
‘This puts a healthy “use it or lose it” principle in place to encourage sites to deliver housing,’ he said.
Deputy Inder also defended the decision to go against the inspector’s recommendation that a local centre should not be created at Vazon.
Mr Holland had agreed with objections, not least from the Castel parish, that the area lacked the facilities to qualify as a local centre, and ran the risk of drainage and flooding problems.
But it does include Whispers Vinery, one of the nine sites being proposed for affordable housing.
‘Whispers Vinery has the potential to deliver a significant amount of housing. It’s rare, if not impossible, to find a potential site that everyone is happy with, yet at the same time, we are required to allocate enough land for affordable housing,’ Deputy Inder said.
‘By keeping this and the potential local centre on the table, it means the States has a choice to either accept or remove them.
‘You could make a case for Vazon, especially in the absence of any other realistic new local centres across the island, and with the desire from some quarters to spread new housing allocation sites across the island.
‘We wanted to keep these “in play” for the States to ultimately make this decision.’