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A political petition aiming to remove a controversial planning policy has been pushed back by a month so a key report into affordable housing delivery can be published and considered first.
A Requête was filed earlier this month to give politicians the power to modify all planning policies relating to housing without having to use the existing, and often protracted, procedures.
But the States agreed last week to postpone debate on it until April, something Requête leader Deputy John Dyke said smelled like a rat.
However, to avoid being accused of debating a matter before all evidence is on the table, he was minded to accept a delay despite not feeling it would significantly change the outcome.
The majority of the Development & Planning Authority - as two members are petition signatories - and all of the Environment & Infrastructure and Employment & Social Security committees requested the postponement so an external consultant report into affordable housing policy GP11, due to be published at the start of April, could be digested first.
The States departments say the work carried out by Arc4 will provide evidence to States members about affordable housing contributions and housing delivery generally: “This work includes a detailed examination of tariff payments (sometimes known as financial contributions or commuted sums) and a review of the effectiveness of policy GP11.
Pictured: The debate had been scheduled for the March meeting.
“This complex commissioned work has already involved extensive stakeholder engagement, including but not limited to local developers, the Guernsey Housing Association, the Policy & Resources Committee and the Committees for Employment & Social Security and the Environment & Infrastructure, as well as housing and forward planning officers within the States of Guernsey. Discussions have also taken place with representatives from other similar jurisdictions to understand how their equivalent policies are implemented.”
They say debating the Requête first would be “problematic for the subsequent publication of the report itself; the States risks public criticism of wasting time, effort and taxpayers’ money commissioning a report on something that is seen as already having been debated”. The report is estimated to have cost £37,000.
Only Deputies Peter Ferbrache, Mark Helyar, Neil Inder, Chris Le Tissier, David Mahoney, and Simon Vermeulen voted against rescheduling, while Deputy Dyke abstained.
The Requête will now be considered at the fourth States meeting of the year, which begins 24 April.
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