Protection of green fields calls for action

It was just one sentence in answer to scores of questions from the public but the new chief minister’s sentiments expressed before the election give hope to those who despair at such developments as the Camp Dolent field in the Vale.

He added: ‘Agricultural land should be preserved if it is genuinely going to be used as agricultural land.’

Encouragingly, Deputy Ferbrache was not alone. Candidate after candidate vowed that, if elected, they would protect green fields and promote the development of brownfield sites in their place.

If such promises are to be more than just comforting words designed to win votes, the Island Development Plan will need amending.

Deputy Ferbrache agrees: ‘Planning generally should be urgently revisited post the election.’

It is here that the new ‘States of Action’ can show its mettle.

The five-year review of the IDP was due to come back before the States in November 2021.

And if that wasn’t slow enough, deputies agreed this April to pause the review indefinitely. Thanks to Covid, the policy letter wasn’t going to appear on time anyway but the Development & Planning Authority wanted to feed in the ‘exact strategy for recovery’ to its work so that ‘land use policies are aligned to the new strategic priorities of the States’.

The DPA ‘pause and review’ amendment – seconded by its current president – was backed by all but three deputies, none of whom was re-elected.

The protection of green fields is therefore a good test of the ‘enough strategy, let’s have action’ new States.

With deputies keen to review the IDP and stop greenfield development, islanders will wait to see how the red tape can be slashed to ribbons and a new field-friendly policy hurried through without having to wait for all those pesky ‘strategic priorities’ to be worked out first.

It won’t be in time to stop Camp Dolent being turned into an 11-home clos, but it might stop another precious bit of green Guernsey from being bulldozed.