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New key worker housing in Town
An empty plot near Sir Charles Frossard House in La Charroterie has been purchased by the Guernsey Housing Association (GHA) for £1.7million. It’s hoped work can progress so that key worker accommodation is available on the site by spring 2024.
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Funding for the project was secured through capital grants made to the Affordable Housing Development Programme. Planning approval is already in place for 17 housing units on the plot, and adjustments to the plans to increase the number of units are currently under consideration.
The GHA says the site’s proximity to the hospital was a crucial part of its suitability for key worker accommodation. Chief executive Steve Williams said: “The site is basically ready to go as a development project. It is on a main bus route and within walking distance of the hospital, so it’s perfect for the staff that the island’s health service relies on.”
Deputy Lindsay de Sausmarez, vice president of the Committee for Employment & Social Security, said: “We know that there is a real shortage of suitable accommodation to house those staff brought to the island to support the island’s health services. This site ticks every box in terms of location, access to public transport and providing the opportunity to crack on with development as a result of the planning permission already in place.”
Redevelopment due for Les Genats Estate
A large-scale redevelopment is planned for Les Genats Estate, in a move designed to completely change the make-up of properties, design, feel and landscape of the area. The Guernsey Housing Association is currently working with architects to design a phased plan for the area. Les Genats is the largest States-owned housing estate. It has 138 dwellings and a family centre, with 111 of the properties identical three-bed properties. The issues identified include its layout, which is said to be outdated, along with the mass concentration of three-bed family properties and lack of privacy.
The redevelopment will break the estate up into several clos rather than one large estate and move away from the make-up being predominantly three-bed social rental units. Instead, it will be replaced with a mix of property sizes and a range of affordable housing units including social rental, partial ownership and key worker. The more varied property sizes will also deliver approximately 50 additional units.
Deputy Peter Roffey, president of the Committee for Employment & Social Security, said: “It is an opportunity to develop an increased number of smaller properties that are desperately needed for social rental and partial ownership tenures. This is about more than just increasing the number of units on the site though, it is about enhancing the community feel of the area and better addressing the island’s affordable housing requirements now and for the future.”
A detailed planning application for 131 new homes has been submitted by Guernsey Housing Association (GHA) for Parc Le Lacheur, formerly Kenilworth Vinery. The plans also include a proposal for a large public park to be created which all islanders will be able to use.
These properties will be a mix of one, two, three and four-bedroom homes for social rental and partial ownership for local residents. Additionally, some homes may be used for key worker accommodation and some of the site may be developed as specialised supported housing for adults with learning difficulties.
Access to Parc Le Lacheur, which is off Saltpans Road, is currently via Braye Road but it is hoped to also use the traffic light junction on Route Militaire in the future. It is designated a housing priority area under the Island Development Plan, and the site already has an approved development framework.
Steve Williams, chief executive at GHA, said: “This planning application is a further step forward in our efforts to make real progress towards meeting the housing needs of people in the island who cannot afford or find suitable accommodation. As is the case with all the developments we are currently progressing, we recognise the need to improve surrounding infrastructure and the creation of a large park for public use, alongside cycle and walking routes in the surrounding area, will support the wider community.”
St Peter’s residents have their say
Residents of St Pierre du Bois have been contributing their thoughts on the future of the parish, showing an appetite for converting existing properties to help with the current housing crisis, instead of developing new estates. The potential redevelopment of the parish’s post office into a retail unit and café was also top of the list.
An independent steering committee was given the task of gathering the views of parishioners by the Douzaine and did so by sending leaflets to all 2,076 residents.
The six-week consultation asked residents how they wanted their parish to look in 15 to 20 years and was followed by an interactive exhibition in the parish’s Douzaine.
Chair of the committee, Tony Talmage, said: “We had 149 people attend the exhibition and submit responses by post and e-mail, which represents an incredible 18.7% of households in the parish. In the UK the feedback in similar community consultations averages 0.7%, so the engagement from St Peters has been very encouraging.”
The Committee said several other options also got a positive reaction from the respondents, including a potential pedestrian link from Morrisons to Rue de Brehaut, allowing home-owners to extend or convert their homes to help with the housing crisis, and an upgrade of Sylvans Clubhouse.
But while residents said they were sympathetic to the island’s housing issues, they weren’t open to putting housing estates in the middle of the village.
Bat problem at Leale’s Yard
The possibility of bat roosts in some of the buildings at the Leale’s Yard site is posing problems for the potential development.
The Co-op, lead developer and owners of the site, has submitted a fresh planning application to remove all the roofs of the existing buildings after surveys found many of them are hospitable to bats.
The only caveat is that the roofs can only be removed between the months of September and October due to the species of bat and their seasonal nesting habits. Whilst the likelihood of bat roosts is only high for some of the buildings, a cover letter for the application, submitted by DRP Architecture, states that the developers have been advised “that it would be prudent to apply for all the existing buildings”.
It also states that provision for roosts for bats will be included in the wider scheme due to be submitted for planning approval.
Pointues Rocques homes approved
A controversial planning application for 68 homes on the Pointues Rocques vinery site in St Sampson’s was approved at a recent open planning meeting. All five members of the Development & Planning Authority voted in favour of the development, following a long meeting and several years of discussions with planning and objections from the public.
The site will now become the first housing development in Guernsey which delivers on the States’ affordable housing policy (GP11) since the policy was introduced within the Island Development Plan in 2016.
The scheme comprises 30 dwellings, 10 flats and 12 maisonettes, which will be built alongside 16 affordable houses, which will be managed by the Guernsey Housing Association. The conditions on the permission included requiring the developers to submit more information about the landscaping of the site and to consider installing playground equipment for residents.
Public concerns about the development bringing increased traffic to the area were addressed through a package of proposed measures including measures to ease congestion, reduced parking spaces and secure bicycle spaces. It’s also hoped a car sharing scheme will help alleviate some of the worries about the increased traffic in the area.
PEH housing plan to progress
Guernsey’s States recently rejected an attempt by seven deputies to block a plan to build key workers’ housing on a green field next to the Princess Elizabeth Hospital. Support for the requête, which was brought by Deputy Steve Falla, was countered by an amendment proposed by Deputy Neil Inder and seconded by Deputy Mark Helyar. Their amendment, which was backed by 24 votes to 15, led to a States’ resolution directing that any key workers’ housing on the field at the hospital should be offset by spending up to £300,000 buying land of an equivalent size elsewhere to be converted into grassland for dairy farming. It means the Committee is free to work with the Policy & Resources Committee, which also backs the scheme, to develop building proposals further and submit a planning application to the Development & Planning Authority.
The green field is allocated as an Agricultural Priority Area in the Island Development Plan, and a planning application will be submitted to request permission to build on it.
Planning permission for Les Ozouets campus
A recent open planning meeting granted permission for the proposals to build a post-16 education campus at Les Ozouets.
The Development & Planning Authority was unanimous in their agreement to allow the Committee for Education, Sport & Culture permission to press ahead with its planned scheme, which the Committee now intends to complete by 2025.
The scheme was approved by the States’ Assembly last year as part of a wholesale reorganisation of secondary and tertiary education at a capital cost of up to £105million - most of which will be spent on the post-16 campus at Les Ozouets.
The Authority gave planning permission for the post-16 campus, to include a new sixth form centre to replace the one currently located at Les Varendes, a sports centre and new facilities for The Guernsey Institute, which currently operates from the former St Peter Port School buildings on the same site and several other locations around the island. The Princess Royal Centre for the Performing Arts will be maintained in its current location on the site and form part of the post-16 campus.
Two changes have already been made to the original plans. The number of car parking spaces has been reduced to 346 to allow space for up to 200 cycles and greater pedestrianisation. And a filter will be installed - instead of traffic lights - at the junction between Les Baissieres and Le Friquet.
Solar panels for GROW facility
Charity GROW, which has recently met the £3million fundraising target for its new premises, will have over 300 solar panels fitted to the roof of its facilities centre.
The panels are a partnership between Guernsey Electricity, GROW and the Little Green Energy Company. It’s predicted that the solar array will generate over 135,000kWh of low carbon electricity each year - enough electricity to power 44 homes. The electricity generated by those panels will be supplied to Guernsey Electricity for the local grid. Stuart Blondel, Guernsey Electricity’s chief commercial officer, said: “This array is part of our pipeline of projects designed to increase the amount of energy generated on-island from renewable sources. Investing in solar technology on this scale is the right thing to do for the environment and our customers and is another step forward towards reaching our net zero target.”
Additional panels have been installed on the roof of the training and hospitality unit to meet on-site demand.
Installation is due to finish this autumn as part of the redevelopment project of the site at Les Petits Quartiers, which it’s hoped will open next Easter. The new facilities will provide first class training, health and wellbeing support to people with learning and other disabilities.
Transactions down but prices up
The latest quarterly residential property prices bulletin released by the States of Guernsey shows average house prices are continuing to rise and the number of transactions is higher than pre-pandemic levels. But so far, 2022 appears to be a slower year than 2021. The bulletin reveals that 236 local market transactions completed during the second quarter of 2022, which is 61 fewer than the same time in 2021.
However, the mix adjusted house price for this quarter (£598,963), is 18.5% higher than the same quarter in 2021. Director of Savills’ residential sales team, Nick Paluch, said: “In many ways we are mirroring the situation in the UK. Successive interest rate rises and a challenging economic backdrop have led to a slightly more cautious outlook, while the last month or so has also been more seasonal than the previous two summers. Consequently, a little of the heat has come out of the housing market in terms of activity when compared to this time last year – however it still remains busier than pre pandemic. When put into context there are still a healthy number of motivated buyers who are committed to a move.”
He added: “The local market in particular is continuing to be affected by an imbalance between supply and demand which has driven price growth. There are still a lot of people looking for property. Interestingly Q2 witnessed more than 230 transactions – one of the busiest quarters in the last five years. The properties have been available – the sales are just exchanging very quickly and buyers have had to act fast.”
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