Regenerate harbours and extend the runway - Chamber

Tuesday 15 June 2021

A £360m proposal to upgrade St Peter Port and St Sampson's harbours by creating a new commercial port has been labelled a superb opportunity for “a virtuous circle of regeneration and renewal”.

The Chamber of Commerce is also calling for an extension of the airport runway - following a survey of its membership - as a part of a wider, lucrative strategy to improve travel links.

That, in conjunction with upgrades to St Sampson's and St Peter Port Harbours, should be progressed "in a coordinated way so that the overall plan has cohesion and each component mutually supports the others."

"It is envisaged that St Peter Port Harbour works and the Airport runway extension could be undertaken in the same period," said a spokesperson for Guernsey's Chamber.

"With St Sampson’s Harbour being undertaken subsequent to St Peter Port and the Airport, avoiding potential overheating of the local construction industry and simultaneously creating high levels of operational disruption throughout the main centres of activity in Guernsey."

Proposals for each harbour, which can be read about in further detail HERE, can create major opportunities for waterside and land-based development, according to Chamber. 

Pictured: Unlocking more leisure space at St Sampson's Harbour by moving commercial operations away from the port has been described as a "once in a generation opportunity" by STSB President Peter Roffey.  

This echoes the view of the States' Trading & Supervisory Board, which has also eulogised about the benefits of unlocking significant space at both harbours for leisure and commerce. 

"In St Peter Port, potential sites could include the existing North Beach car park, a privately funded super yacht marina either within the confines of the existing harbour and or the existing spatial plan of the harbour would allow an extensive new privately funded marina east of the Eastern arm of the QE II Marina," said the Chamber spokesperson. 

"In the St Sampson's Harbour district, the establishment of Longue Hougue South reclamation area and the building of a new port springing from this reclamation area can provide in the future a highly efficient spatial plan and significant operational advantages for bulk loads, freight and sea container traffic, fuel facilities and future proof-possible roll-on, roll-off operations in the overall plan."

"It would be possible to relocate fuel depots, and improve and rationalise large areas of industrial land and many industrial and distribution operations [...] in so doing the existing industrial zone activities surrounding the existing St Sampson's harbour can be relocated and developed, leaving vacated development land which can gain from the amenity of the harbour and also the development of these areas would improve the harbour environment by removing unsightly buildings and replacing these with attractive buildings with new uses so creating a virtuous cycle of regeneration and renewal."

If these proposals are "framed and defined by a sustainable approach", Chamber argues that it can put Guernsey Ports "in the vanguard of best practice" for sustainable development as the island moves towards its Zero Carbon targets. 

In conclusion, the business group wrote: "Chamber believes that the coordination of public sector plans with private investment will bring enormous economic and community benefits for the island.

"The benefits will not only be confined to the direct improvements in transportation, but much more widely so impacting and facilitating opportunities in the hospitality, arts and commercial sectors of our economy."