Rezoning Castel Hospital could spark private sector interest

Wednesday 30 August 2023

Policy & Resources says it is working with Planning to maximise the development potential of the Castel Hospital site, including both mixed tenure housing and community health uses, rather than using it solely for public housing.

It comes as uncertainty looms over the future of the site after parts of the building were listed by the Development & Planning Authority – much to the exasperation of Chief Minister Deputy Peter Ferbrache – and after Employment & Social Security prioritised other sites for quicker development into social housing.

ESS had asked P&R to safeguard the site for future public housing in 2021, but Deputy Ferbrache said assurances couldn’t be given due to “planning constraints” and other sites for the Guernsey Housing Association being prioritised, such as Kenilworth and Duval vineries.

Deputy Ferbrache said, in response to written questions from Deputy Yvonne Burford, that “current policies limit swift action because it is located outside the L’Aumone local centre and the further complication of the recent listing of both internal and external areas of the site”.

He said P&R will appeal to Planning as it reviews the Island Development Plan to bolster its prospects “with a view to enable the Câtel site to be used for a more comprehensive development which may include mixed tenure housing and/or community uses”.

This may include the sale of land parcels, which if rezoned under planning laws, “would be of interest to the private sector”. Working with private partners is likely to be required going forward to meet the islands housing and population needs, he added. 

But Deputy Ferbrache warned progress will be slow as the hospital cannot be “affordably be developed” and because healthcare services located there have no alternative space yet.

Pictured: Questions on the future of the site were sent in by Deputy Burford.

Deputy Burford questioned whether the States Assembly would be involved and if the property would be marketed publicly if it was decided to sell all or part of the land.

Deputy Ferbrache said an “appropriate process” would be followed should healthcare activities, involving around 300 staff, stop or the land be sold.

He also confirmed that senior deputies and civil servants have held informal discussions with construction stakeholders over its redevelopment since 2020 but denied doing so overstepped the rules.

“All deputies regularly attend meetings with, or meet, members of the public in their personal capacity as an individual member of the States rather than as official representatives of a committee,” he said. 

Deputy Ferbrache said Castel Hospital “may” have been raised in conversations this way, including without civil servants present, but argued this is not “unusual” even given rules requiring officers to be present for official government engagements.

“In circumstances where members are formally representing the Committee, this would have been made clear and officers present in order to maintain a record,” he said.

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