It’s the policy at fault, not the planners

The Island Development Plan is working well, the Strategic Land Use Plan is being rigorously adhered to and residents of the island can rest assured that all is going swimmingly.

What a relief.

We are also assured that there is no over-development of the north. Rather patronisingly, those deputies and islanders who have raised concerns are told they must be relying on ‘anecdotal’ evidence, not hard fact.

Many would say they are using their own eyes.

There have not been too many homes built in the north, the DPA says. In 2018, there were apparently only four homes completed in the St Sampson’s/Vale corridor.

Compare that with St Peter Port, they say, where there were 85 homes built in 2018.

Development frameworks should not be taken too seriously. ‘This is “potential” rather than actual development.’

In other words, don’t worry about the hundreds of homes earmarked for Pointues Rocques, Cleveleys vinery, Les Bas Courtils, Tertre Lane, Le Maresquet and others. They might never come to pass.

(In the case of Leale’s Yard and its hundreds of homes the planners probably have a point.)

If anything, there is a sense of disappointment in DPA ranks that more homes have not been built in the north. Development has been frustratingly slow, despite the encouragement of planning frameworks.

Apart from that, all is going to plan. The flats and houses are going where the SLUP has for 30 years said they should: in the same built-up areas. The south must remain pristine, green and unsullied.

Nowhere is that central policy questioned. There is no concept of a finite point where the Bridge corridor and the area’s junctions, roads and schools cannot cope.

Planners remain sanguine about the amount of development earmarked for the north. Residents watching the scaffolding go up will be less relaxed.

Future in-house reviews will no doubt also give the IDP top marks. It is following States’ policy to the letter.

Only deputies can change that policy.