‘Democratically, the public were asked to give their views, and those views have gone through a process which has resulted in them barely being represented in the States report, and now we’re being told that democratically it’s got to be considered by the States,’ one parishioner said at last week’s parish meeting, where more than 120 parish residents turned up to protest at the proposal.
‘But it sounds like democratically this is just a continuing approach to changing the rules, and basically it is just so that something that is supposed to happen is going to happen. It doesn’t sound democratic.’
Development & Planning Authority president Neil Inder said his committee ‘played it straight’.
‘You disagree, and so my advice as a member of the public is simply write to the States of Guernsey. If you write to States of Guernsey, the States will panic, and they’ll probably vote against proposition one, and you’ll get what you wanted,’ he told the meeting.
Deputy Inder said that even if the States backed the DPA’s recommendation, the owners of Whispers would have to make a full planning application for the site within 12 months, which would still enable residents to make representations.
‘It’s acknowledged that consultation has taken place and has been annexed. But it has been set aside, basically ignored. So the public, who are democratically entitled to their view, have expressed a view, and are being told that they have to continue to express the view,’ the parishioner retorted.
Residents also asked why the States continued to use the services of planning inspector Keith Holland, pictured. Previously, when he conducted an inquiry for the States in 2016 there were more than 30 amendments placed to his report.
One resident said he had asked for details of the cost of the inspector and the planning inquiry through a Freedom of Information request.
The Environment & Infrastructure Committee, which ran the process, estimated the cost at £150,000, including Mr Holland’s fee, travel, room hire, hotel meals, printing and the cost of States employees involved in the process, which took nearly two years to complete.
The DPA said it accepted most of Mr Holland’s recommendations in 2016, and most of the changes were made by States members.
It said that the inquiry was a statutory process and the inspector’s assessment acted as an independent check on its thinking.
It agreed that it had decided not overrule Mr Holland’s decision not to class Vazon as a local centre but said it had also declined to adopt the inspector’s recommendations on other sites too.