Hospital housing application “very unlikely to succeed” - P&R

Monday 29 January 2024

The controversial plan to build homes for health staff on an agricultural field in the grounds of the Princess Elizabeth Hospital has been canned by the new Policy & Resources Committee.

Those backing the application - including the previous P&R and Health & Social Care - were relying on a special planning exemption to skirt around usual laws by showing it was of “strategic importance” to the island.

66 units in a four-storey building was sought as failures to guarantee affordable accommodation close to the workplace was proving a huge recruitment challenge for HSC, forcing it to increasingly rely on agency workers which attract premium rates of pay.

But the current P&R now say that based on the advice received “the application is very unlikely to succeed” as it believes other sites can be demonstrated as available instead.

This includes a public-private venture at Les Oberlands, 57 units on the former CI Tyres site, and the former Braye Lodge Hotel – all of which are within areas zoned for housing, with the first two currently awaiting planning approval.

“The development of the field could only be approved as an exception if it is demonstrated that there are no other suitable sites available,” it said. “Those developments are a further reason for the Committee withdrawing the application and freeing up resources that can be more usefully deployed elsewhere”.

Deputy Lyndon Trott, P&R President, promised to work with HSC to investigate alternatives to deliver key worker housing as fast as possible, but noted projects in the pipeline could deliver over 100 new homes in the coming years.

Pictured: Deputy Lyndon Trott.

“The need for more housing as a whole is a top priority for this States, and that includes more key worker housing which is important to the recruitment and retention of our health professionals, who are themselves essential to our island,” Deputy Trott said.

“But we need to develop the most appropriate sites and be realistic about what is deliverable. As other sites are now progressing, it is more difficult to argue that the development of the green field site at Bordage Seath is strategically important at this time, and it’s clearly a site that faces a lot of public and political opposition too.

“I would like to acknowledge the very good work carried out by the previous Policy & Resources Committee on enabling developments at other key sites near the hospital, which are more appropriate brown field and main centre sites.”

The bid for hospital housing hit several stumbling blocks since the application was first submitted in 2022. It amassed a record number of public representations during the consultation period, and several deputies made a move to block the site’s development.

The States rejected that attempt but opted to offset any green land lost by purchasing an equal sized plot for conversion to grassland for dairy farming.

But those behind the Requête pledged to fight on, trusting in the planning process to halt the project.

At the end of last year, the Development & Planning Authority requested more information from P&R and HSC to support the application and prove no other sites were suitable.

It pointed out that other nearby sites like Braye Lodge, the former CI Tyres and even the car park at Frossard House were all potentials for key worker housing close to the hospital, and was disappointed that other locations were eliminated only because they were more than a 10-minute walk away.

Pictured: The plans included a 66 room block of flats, with scope for a further block if deemed necessary in future.

The original planning application was personally signed off by Deputy Peter Ferbrache, the former P&R President.

In October, his committee submitted further details to alleviate Plannings’ concerns. He said while other sites had come forward, together they couldn’t alleviate the demand for health staff housing and additional development was necessary.

But Deputy Heidi Soulsby, now back in her former role as P&R Vice-President, and a supporter of the 2022 Requête, said the additional submissions added little extra detail: “There was nothing that added more to the first application to demonstrate there aren’t any other sites available”.

She rejected the idea that the field could’ve been developed faster than other sites, and said had the field application been approved it “could well have gone to judicial review”.

Deputy Soulsby accepted the process to date has swallowed up “a lot of resources”.

“I’m sure [HSC] will be disappointed, but we want to work with them”, she said. “If we see something that can be developed quickly then we will try and do that to help support HSC”.

One site viewed as ripe for key worker housing is the Guernsey Dairy site bordering the hospital. However, that’s unlikely to be freed up for several years as the States have not agreed a future direction for the business, or whether to construct a new dairy elsewhere.

Writing on social media after the announcement, deputies who were critical of the plans celebrated the news.

“At last!” Deputy Yvonne Burford, Scrutiny President, tweeted. “After two sets of written parliamentary questions, two detailed planning representations, a full page press article and a letter to the new P&R from me, together with hundreds of objections to the DPA by concerned islanders, we finally have the right result”.

Deputy Adrian Gabriel wrote: “An outbreak of common sense has occurred, let’s hope it’s highly contagious”.

Deputy Steve Falla, who led the Requête, posted: “It’s very welcome news and the strength of the community response to the application, through the record number of representations made to the DPA, showed that many people agreed with me and the other requerants that there were better places to build health staff accommodation.

“I’m pleased that since this was first raised a number of new key worker accommodation sites are now in train and they are within a workable distance from the PEH.”

Health & Social Care has been approached for comment.