Concerns of a snoopers' charter
THE Development & Planning Authority’s bid to address ‘land which is affecting the amenity of an area’, otherwise known as ‘eyesores’, looks like one of those proposals which are seductive at first sight, before they are unpicked by deeper consideration.
The DPA wants powers to tackle ‘known eyesores’ in our urban centres and rural areas, especially when it is a single property blighting a neighbourhood or stopping an enhancement project, for example.
It’s an idea that most people can get behind. It was tested with the douzaines five years ago. They liked it. We all have our own particularly irritating eyesores… ‘why don’t they do something with that?’ we say.
Now ‘they’ want to do something, or at least force the landowner to do so. But the more we think about the DPA’s proposal, the more concerns are raised.
How often will these powers be used? That is exercising Deputy Neil Inder, who has tabled an amendment which will exclude private dwellings. He says it’s not government’s business to interfere in private lives and adds it’s ‘a fundamental right of everyone to live how they please on their own property’.
They are also concerned about creating a snoopers' charter where jobsworth douzaines and people launch complaints about properties.
The proposal will be a test of our deputies’ focus – libertarian or authoritarian?