More space for ‘unitised freight’ needed at harbour

The investigation by Fisher Advisory is published as an appendix to the draft local planning brief on the harbour action areas and includes an estimate that roughly 4,800sq.m, or about 40% of North Beach car park, of additional space is needed for ‘unitised freight’.

‘While much of this space may not be needed in the short-term, the planning framework should consider this future additional land requirement for port operations use should it be needed,’ said the report.

Looking forward to 2050, it said that ‘modest growth’ in the amount could see a total of 238,000sq.m being required while in 2022 175,000sq.m of space was used.

It also talks of the potential development of the pool marina but this would cover only the outstanding waiting list, it said, and by 2050 this could have risen from the current 2,000sq.m to up to 2,360sq.m.

Port activities could require flexible space for maintenance and repair work around both St Peter Port and St Sampson’s Harbours, while the report advises that the passenger terminal needed to be revamped and better passenger access to and from Town was needed.

The topic of a bypass around the Quay seafront was one of the topics raised during the consultation, alongside people highlighting traffic as an issue.

Previously, even the idea of a tunnel carrying traffic under the road while leaving the seafront a pedestrian precinct was floated, but Development and Planning Authority president Victoria Oliver said this was not likely.

This particular topic would be handled in the development framework for the St Peter Port regeneration areas and this would work in harmony with the LPB: ‘A tunnel from one end of the South Esplanade to the roundabout is still possible,’ she said.

‘There’s nothing stopping it. But I think the technical work concluded it was very unlikely.’

Work being done by the Guernsey Development Agency will also dovetail into the planning brief and there had been close liaison with it during the report’s preparation. ‘We’ve been sharing information with them and they’ve been sharing information with us,’ said Deputy Oliver.

‘They’re one of the key stakeholders we’ve been working with. It’s essentially two sides of the same coin in terms of this document facilitates what the GDA wants to do, and the GDA wrote a letter of support to this document when it was considered by the DPA in August.