Dozens of new homes greenlit in St. Martins

Friday 10 March 2023

26 new homes will be built at Briarwood after the Development & Planning Authority granted permission with conditions at the second open planning meeting for the scheme.

Only Deputy Andrew Taylor voted to defer the decision, sympathising with suggestions that some of the land should be handed over to the Guernsey Housing Association for partial ownership and social rental homes.

A second meeting was scheduled while the Authority further considered the financial viability of the development if an affordable housing contribution was included, and the impact on the neighbouring Office of the Children’s Convenor.

DPA President, Deputy Victoria Oliver, said the decision should provide certainty to the developers following delay.

“There is still great demand for private housing, and we have a role to play in helping to address this demand and ensuring that development takes place in accordance with the Island Development Plan."

Deputy John Dyke declared himself Vice President of the DPA while members were introducing themselves to the audience, illustrating a spat within the Committee that had been reported on Friday. 

Deputy Andrew Taylor claims he remains the Vice President, and official States' channels continue to indicate that.

Pictured: Tensions are known to exist between the senior DPA members. 

Further spoken representations were given, but these were restricted to comments only relating to financial viability and changes made to the plans since the original open planning meeting.

Deputy Peter Roffey, President of Employment & Social Security, which has responsibility for affordable housing, said permitting the application would be “setting a very unfortunate precedent”.

He said the States Strategic Housing Indicator (SSHI) shows that more than 700 units of additional affordable housing are needed, with key worker accommodation further inflating that number.

“We will not only fail but fail badly” if more private developments do not make a contribution, he said.

He accused the Authority of “willingly driving a coach and horse to its own policies and I hope you don’t do it”.

Deputy Lindsay de Saumarez, Vice President of ESS, added that she doesn’t “think its really dropped with States members or the wider public how pressing the housing needs are” based on the SSHI.

Deputy Rob Prow labelled GP11, the island’s affordable housing policy, as “not fit for purpose”, but not for the same reasons as other critics.

“The DPA were absolute right to defer,” he said, arguing that the development is overcrowded and “designed” to be more profitable for developers in lieu of additional social housing.

He also took aim at the wider open planning meeting process, saying the lack of access to the independent viability assessment outside of the Authority meant is was actually “a closed process”.

Pictured: Deputy Peter Roffey has been critical of the composition of the scheme. 

Alex Knowleden, of Sarnian Property Ltd, lambasted the “unfounded accusation” that the developers had deliberately sought a loophole to recuse themselves of making an affordable housing contribution.

“Why would we take that high risk strategy,” he asked. He wondered if ESS had a sufficient understanding of the wider planning process. “While we appreciate the passion behind GP11, the independent viability shows it is non-viable on the site.”

He asked the DPA to not ignore the viability assessment twice.

Paul Knobes of Infinity Group similarly said the developers had followed planning policy “from start to finish here”.

DPA members also questioned planners. Deputy Oliver sought clarification that more private housing has been identified as needed over social housing, which was confirmed.

The independent viability assessor also reiterated previous findings that the non-viability of the development means the scheme can legally not provide a portion of land for social housing.

He said, even with that exemption, there is likely to only be a 13% profit on costs which is considerably lower than the 20% target usually required.

He added that costs would need to be massively reduced to provide the full affordable housing contribution.

Deputy Dyke simply asked planners how many homes have been built under GP11 to date. The answer was none.

Other DPA deputies, including Sasha Kazantseva-Miller and Chris Blin were satisfied that concerns with the viability assessment had been addressed and backed the scheme.

But Deputy Taylor questioned the viability assessment at length and decided that more consideration should be given to ESSs’ concerns.

The application was approved 4-1.

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