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Relocating and consolidating car parking in St Peter Port is among the ideas mooted in the latest proposals for the Harbour Actions Areas.
Both St Peter Port and St Sampson's harbours were looked at by development experts for the Local Planning Brief published earlier this week.
Authored by Tibbalds Planning and Urban Design with input from key stakeholders, including the Guernsey Development Agency and members of the public through drop in sessions earlier this year, the draft Local Planning Brief (LBP) is now out for public consultant before a final version goes to the States next April.
With parking - and the prospect of paid parking - among topics repeatedly visited by politicians, one area the LBP had to consider was the way parking is managed at the island's two main harbours.
Recognising that parking close to the town centres is important to the island's economy, the LBP acknowledges that parking can't simply be removed.
Pictured: Multi-storey decked car parking is one of the ideas for St Peter Port.
Looking at St Peter Port in particular, the opportunities for development include a requirement for new office space and new housing while protecting retail spaces.
The LBP states: "To accommodate demand for housing, leisure and commercial floorspace (including offices and retail) and to optimise the use of the HAAs, significant development opportunities could be identified on some of the piers, but only if space can be freed up e.g. by relocating the port activities, reducing or decking car parking. Opportunities for new development can only come about if other land uses are reduced or more land is created or reclaimed."
'Decking' the car parking spaces would imply putting an additional layer of car parking on to one of the existing car parks in St Peter Port. This could also imply mutli-storey car parks as also suggested elsewhere in the LBP.
Those ideas aren't suggested for St Sampson's though.
Pictured: Reconfiguring access at the Bridge includes ideas for better pedestrian and cycle links in the area.
The Bridge would benefit from improved pedestrian and cycle access, says the LPB.
This reflects what has already been suggested in the Better Transport Plan for the north of the island, published by the Committee for the Environment and Infrastructure earlier this year.
The public consultation carried out earlier this year saw some support for improved active travel options in both St Peter Port and St Sampsons.
The LPB suggests that improving routes and creating infrastructure such as a dedicated cycle link between the two HAAs would improve access to sustainable and active travel.
Other comments relating to parking and travel options made during the public consultation earlier this year included "some support for paid parking; some support for decked parking/multi-storey; some support for reducing provision and reallocating space for people; some resistance to reduction in parking; some concerns around economic impacts on reduction of parking; some demands for more car parking."
No decisions have been made yet, with the LPB now out for public consultation again.
Members of the public can comment on it - and shape changes to it before the States vote in April - from now until 14 October.
Any queries regarding the draft Local Planning Brief should be directed to: planning.inquiries@gov.gg
Power station could be relocated
Harbours planning brief out today
EXPLAINED: The Harbours 'Local Planning Brief'
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