No evidence that St Martin's houses are 'much needed'

Current States policy, the Strategic Land Use Plan, states that the majority of new housing development will be 'within and around the main centres of St Peter Port and St Sampson's/Vale' and that there should be only 'limited opportunities for housing development' within the local centres.

The Les Galeries proposal for 40 properties is of a scale far outside that considered suitable for within a local centre, such as St Martin's, let alone one outside its boundary.

Policy RH2 (cited as justification by Island Development Ltd and Deputy Hadley for the Galeries development) sets out four conditions that must be met by proposals for the erection of social housing on greenfield sites, the third of which states that: 'the development would be of a scale and design appropriate to the rural setting'.

The Galeries development is a major incursion in the rural area and would drive a coach and horses through this criterion. The Environment Department clearly agrees. In turning down the developer's request to expand the St Martin's local centre boundary to incorporate their site during the current planning enquiry, it said: 'The extension of the local centre boundary as proposed would create a larger potential area of development around St Martin's local centre that would be inconsistent with the aims of the Strategic Land Use Plan for local centres and the spatial policy of the draft Plan (Policy S1) and would result in greenfield development contrary to the aim of the draft Plan.'*

Environment has already demonstrated an objective assessment of policy does not support the Galeries development and, as the States agreed in September its own evidence base for projecting future housing demand was not good enough, there is no evidence base to support Deputy Hadley's assertion that the development is 'much needed' therefore there are no legitimate policy grounds for planners to approve the development and it must be refused.

ANDREW SLOAN,

St Martin's.

* (Comment ID IR1487)

http://sog-consult.objective.co.uk/portal/planning/draftidp/planninginquiry?pointId=ID-3323036-27&do=view