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Planners have again accepted that requiring affordable housing at Briarwood would render the development commercially unviable.
A decision on whether to build 26 new homes was deferred after members of the Development & Planning Authority disagreed over whether calculations used to determine that no social housing should be provided were accurate.
Since then, DPA members, senior planning and States property officials, and the independent viability assessors met to discuss issues arising out of the original meeting and clarify the methodology used.
Yesterday, planners announced that “a thorough assessment has been carried out that supports the application as proposed without any affordable housing and the proposal therefore complies” with the island’s affordable housing policy.
As well as homes, the plans include gardens and two car parking spaces per property on an agricultural field and a back garden surrounding the St. Martin’s public car park off Grande Rue.
A second open planning meeting has been scheduled for March 10 at 14:30 at Beau Sejour. The only matters which can be discussed must relate to the reasons for deferral and subsequent revisions to the original application.
The applicants are Sarnian Property Ltd & Infinity Construction.
An Open Planning Meeting will be held at 2.30pm, Fri 10 Mar in the Cambridge/Delancey rooms, Beau Sejour where the application for Briarwood will be considered, having been deferred in December.
— States of Guernsey (@Govgg) March 2, 2023
Read the meeting agenda and planning application reports at https://t.co/aPSMWSlaqx. pic.twitter.com/oNBPkWjEZE
The original plans have been revised to minimise impact on the neighbouring Children’s Convenor Office, which was also raised a concern at the original open planning meeting.
Vehicular access to the site has been moved around seven metres further away, and landscaping has been proposed to ensure additional screening for the sensitive activities at the office. Changes to the car parking area have also been proposed.
A moveable bollard has been added at the other end of the site to allow for vehicle maintenance access to St. Martins Primary School. This includes widening the pathway which will result in the loss of two bicycle parking spaces, although dozens of spaces are still provided.
The Committee for Employment & Social Security, which has political responsibility for affordable housing, suggested that increasing the total number of homes could improve viability. However planners rejected this suggestion, saying public representations are already weary about the scale of development and it “would not respect the character of the area”.
ESS also criticised the amount paid by the developer to acquire the public car park - £250,000 - which they plan to return to public use after construction is completed.
“The Committee’s view is that the developer is likely to have paid a higher price for the land than they should have done, as the affordable housing contribution was not factored into the land value,” it said.
“The Committee hopes that the DPA more closely scrutinises the price paid for the land.”
Planners reconsidered but rejected this assessment: “The land values paid or agreed would need to be reduced to such an extent that there would be little or no incentive to sell land, and for the full allocation of affordable housing to be provided, land values would be required to have a negative value."
Pictured: ESS President Deputy Peter Roffey has been critical of the lack of affordable housing in the plans.
Planning policy GP11 requires that new developments over 20 units of housing should provide a portion of land, up to 30%, for social housing to be managed by the Guernsey Housing Association.
For Briarwood, that would’ve equated to 28%, or seven units. However, developers do not need to make an allocation if it can be demonstrated that doing so would render the scheme financially unviable.
Developers are also mandated to realise a 20% profit on costs from building projects, partly to ensure that lending can be secured.
You can read the new planning report HERE.
GP11 functioning as intended despite viability woes
Affordable housing viability under the spotlight
Possible two-dozen new dwellings could come to St Martins
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