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An attempt for part of the historic Havilland Hall estate to be allocated for housing through the recent public call for sites was rejected, so the owner is now bidding through the planning law review process to have it included in the refreshed Island Development Plan.
Property tycoon David Rowland owns Havilland Hall, the largest privately owned estate in Guernsey at Le Vauquiedor.
The Development & Planning Authority issued its call for sites last September as it tried to find new areas of land for housing that could be available within the next 10-years as part of the ongoing review into the island’s planning policies.
It’s now emerged through published responses to the DPA’s draft plans that agents made an application on behalf of Mr Rowland “for a large section of the land which runs alongside the St Peter Port main centre boundary” to be zoned for homes.
The western edge of the estate borders this area, which is where new developments are generally directed.
Naftel Associates responded on behalf of Mr Rowland calling on the DPA to “explain in more detail why the site at Havilland Hall is not suitable in comparison to the sites you have selected in St Martins where they have poor traffic access”.
The DPA have been accused of preferring sites located outside the main and local centres for only affordable housing, rather than private market, which has led Mr Rowland to ask that his land is reconsidered on the basis it would be for affordable housing.
Pictured: The site in the current Island Development Plan.
“You have picked two sites in St Martins which have poor traffic access and the land in Havilland Hall is far superior to them. We would like a more detailed response to confirm firstly that the site would be considered for affordable housing and also why exactly is this site unsuitable in comparison to the other sites you have selected,” the submission states.
“If you made it absolutely clear that only affordable housing would be considered for development outside of the main centres, then each application would have ticked the box allowing 'affordable' housing. You simply did not make that key criterion absolutely clear. Of course, any application made adjacent to a main centre boundary where the form has not clicked 'affordable housing' has simply been thrown out.”
The DPA proposes to modestly expand three local centres to include six new sites “specifically for Affordable Housing” - but private development would be permitted on these sites under the proposed changes provided at least 80% of units are social housing.
If the DPA’s plans are approved the L’Aumone boundary would be extended to include Le Tassin for social housing purposes and the now partly listed Castel Hospital site which it says will “remove barriers” to its development
The St Martin boundary would also be extended the most to include three additional fields for social housing - Ville Amphrey, Longue Rue, and School Lane Vinery.
Meanwhile, the northern main centre would be expanded to include Collingwood off Route Militaire, while the town main centre would be expanded to include Selbourne Vinery on Route des Coutanchez.
The DPA has been granted extra time to review hundreds of comments on its draft plans. Responses will be published in due course, but it's unclear what the revised timetable is.
A public planning inquiry will follow with an independent inspector later this year.
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