Spades could be in ground by October 2019 for a Seafront upgrade

Tuesday 29 May 2018

A political steering group and a working party have been formed to start work on plans for the development of the Town seafront and the surrounding area.

This comes after the States approved the Policy & Resource Plan in November, with 23 priorities. Developing the seafront area was one of those.

The political steering group has members representing nearly all of the States committees, and will oversee the development programme's progress, while an officer-level working group will advise and assist in the implementation of decisions.

The Steering Group expects a continuous conversation to take place with the public about what it thinks should be included as part of any seafront enhancement and will be proactively engaging with the community to ensure views and opinions are captured - this echoed the views of Deputy Charles Parkinson, who was speaking about the eastern sea board at the IoD lunch last Friday.

Deputy Gavin St Pier has been made the chair of the Seafront Enhancement Area steering group: "We are very excited about the opportunities that the Seafront Enhancement Area programme presents. We expect the programme will secure significant economic, environmental and social benefits for the area. This programme of work is looking both to the long-term future of the area but also seeking to generate initial projects that will enable us to get a spade in the ground by autumn next year.

"Thinking about what enhancements we might want in place before we host the 2021 Island Games could be another driver.  So it is vital that members of the community have the opportunity to offer ideas and provide feedback throughout and I would encourage everyone to engage. Any changes to the seafront and surrounding area must be shaped by and meet the requirements of our community."

As part of the work to develop a long-term plan for the area, the Development & Planning Authority will start to prepare a draft Local Planning Brief, which will be informed by the results of the community consultation. The public will also have the opportunity to comment on the brief, which will be subject to a public inquiry before being presented to the States for final consideration and approval. 

So far, two primary work streams have been identified. The first is the development of an overall strategy for seafront enhancement, which will be built around extensive community consultation and engagement that will begin later this year. The second seeks to identify initial projects which can be carried out ahead of the preparation of an overall strategy and lead to a “spade in the ground” before October 2019.

In advance of the public consultation planned for later this year, should any member of the community wish to offer suggestions for the enhancement of the seafront they can do so by emailing doug.mackay@gov.gg.

Main picture credit of Jane King