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Health and Social Care says it understands the decision to not proceed with housing on a hospital field, but a member has called for more details on where to house key workers in the long-term.
Policy and Resources pulled a plan to build 66 units in a new block on a field in between the hospital and Duchess of Kent House after official advice suggested that the planning application was unlikely to be approved.
Deputy Marc Leadbeater, a member of HSC, said it understood P&R’s decision to withdraw an application to build staff housing on a field at the hospital, but called for “look at what further developments are possible for key workers in the medium to long term”.
He said affordable housing for the local population should also be prioritised.
A majority of HSC members supported the application at the hospital, including Deputy Leadbeater, who said when it was first revealed in 2022 “there were limited other options available in the post pandemic recovery”.
But he said work since then, after the alarm was increasingly raised on the accommodation challenges Health is facing, led to “three significant developments”.
Pictured: Deputy Marc Leadbeater.
These include the former CI Tyres site near Sir Charles Frossard House, where the Guernsey Housing Association recently submitted an application for 57 one-bed flats, the planned joint-venture at Les Oberlands to create 15 staff flats among private dwellings, and the purchase of the former Braye Lodge Hotel last summer.
After the purchase of the latter, Health President Deputy Al Brouard said further efforts would be needed to house a projected increase of 180 staff members when the hospital is extended in the coming years.
Deputy Leadbeater accepted that what’s in the pipeline “will make a real impact and we hope they are developed with due haste.
“We look forward to continuing to work with P&R and ESS to meet key worker accommodation needs that are essential for the vital services we provide the community,” he added.
P&R says its committed to finding additional sites and working with HSC on solutions.
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