Les Blanches application submitted

Saturday 21 July 2018

A planning application to develop Les Blanches in St Martins has been submitted, after months of controversy over its future.

Proposed by Island Development Limited, the site could have 14 flats and 12 dwellings on it in future; with associated car parking, if planners agree.

The field has a long history when it comes to whether or not it will be developed. Most recently the site had been subject to a bitter dispute between neighbouring residents and planners – but eventually it made its way through the planning process.

In 2005 developers objected to the field being undesignated in the proposed Rural Area Plan. Developers requested a total of seven fields in the area have their classification changed to allow residential developments. This was rejected by the Planning Inspector, but he recommend that the-then Housing Authority only request the land be used for Social Housing if no other sites were suitable in St Martins. 

In 2015 an application to build 37 dwellings was rejected after being heard at an Open Planning Meeting because it was too dense and with parts three-storeys, too high. Traffic safety concerns also derailed it. 

A year later a new application with 26 dwellings, no higher than two storeys, and more car parking was submitted and eventually rejected. However, that decision by the Development and Planning Authority was itself overturned by a planning tribunal.

Deputy Heidi Soulsby had been among those parish residents objecting to the plans in the past.