Planners sacrificed countryside for sake of commercial project

The politician in charge of Guernsey’s planning decisions has admitted that the seventeen 30-metre-high pylons are ‘unfortunately… a blot on the landscape’. She hopes the tree planting scheme will provide adequate screenage, despite developers and planners admitting there is no guarantee that the trees will flourish. I’m no tree expert (there is ACLMS for that) but since the demise of elm, I cannot think of one native tree which will likely tower above 30 metres. If Italian cypress survive Guernsey winters, I’ll eat my words, but I expect to go hungry. And then there is the prospect of floodlights.

It is conceded by Planning, that the pylons will be a blot on our landscape ‘for the lifetime of the development’. In human terms – and probably long after current Planning employees have moved on – that will be for the foreseeable future. Children born today will know nothing different and, for readers over the age of 50, this equates to the rest of their lives.

The real concession by Planning is abandoning Guernsey’s outstanding natural beauty for the sake of bagging a commercial project which threatened to turn on its heel. Where was the debate for compromise? Where was the open planning meeting? The answers are revealing and shocking.

Ask neighbouring residents whether they would prefer the odd stray ball in their garden, or an outlook onto 17 x 30-metre pylons, resembling a mini-power station, a shipyard or a scene from War of the Worlds to name but a few choice descriptions. Ask islanders if, to quote the developers, ‘it will be a place for all islanders to enjoy and be proud of’. All islanders, really?

What does this teach future generations about respect for the countryside and our place in it? What is the point of an Environment department, seeking to preserve Guernsey’s biodiversity, special wildlife and conservation of Guernsey’s green spaces? This approved stage in the development of La Grande Mare by the States of Guernsey, indicates that either the right hand doesn’t know what the left hand is doing, or, that it is perfectly OK to endanger nature, to wreck an outstanding natural environment with man-made monstrosities and throw away those ‘important’ values and principles, to suit.

This is urbanisation of the countryside at its outstanding worst. One of our daily joys – clearly taken for granted – is the uninterrupted view of countryside rolling down towards the sea and, incidentally, one which many visitors pay good money to escape urban life to enjoy.

There must be an achievable compromise. I suggest Deputy Oliver and her department sit down with the relevant parties and islanders to rectify the ‘blot’ that she recognises, along with thousands of islanders.

SARA JANE LAMPITT

St Saviour’s