Vinery application triggers cannabis farm fears

Monday 22 July 2019

An application for a 2.4m high security fence, CCTV and security lighting at a vinery in a small Vale lane has concerned residents that a medicinal cannabis farm is in the works.

A planning application has been made to install a security fence, gates, CCTV cameras and other security measures at Hougue Vinery in Rue des Landes, Vale.

"Our clients require their site to become a secure area, therefore requires a 2.4m high security fence around its perimeter," said the applicants' architects, Jason Hobbs Architectural Services Ltd. "We have been advised that a chain link fence would be appropriate and therefore propose this fence around the perimeter of part of the site on the boundary. We will be erecting a steel mesh within the greenhouse to reduce the amount of external fencing necessary, whilst still providing security to the glasshouse.

"The CCTV is to be used within the site only and not be able to see/record any members of the public, on the public highway. This is the same as he security lighting system, which will only be activated once someone has entered the site, unlawfully.

The unusual thing about the application is that it does not specify what the vinery will be used for. 

"The traffic movement in and out of the site will be no more than any working vinery site within Guernsey. Our clients will have staff that will arrive at the start of the working day and depart at the end, much like you would expect from any working vinery.

"Our clients will be growing the majority of their own produce and therefore deliveries to the site will be minimal. They will also not be dispatching their products to the UK or locally on a daily basis so outward traffic from the site will be less than most working vineries.

"The product will be shipped in bottles ranging in size from 10ml of fluid to 1 litre bottles and consequently the volume of product being transported off site will also be minimal."

The application has raised concerns among neighbours that the vinery - which stretches around one resident's property - is being covertly prepared as a processing plant for cannabis products. 

"The application is for security fencing, security lighting, security gates but they won’t say what they are doing there," said one of the lane's residents.

"We are a quiet little backwater of mainly retired people who have lived here for 40 to 50 years and it is going to have such a detrimental effect on the nature of the area. 

"Our objection is that clearly Guernsey will want to make the most of the commercial opportunities it [medical cannabis] will give Guernsey, but the question is can you just plonk it down in the middle of a residential area?"

One of their main concerns is the security lighting.

"By applying to have this all around the site, they are anticipating that people will try to get in because of the nature of the product.

"The lighting is a big concern for all the neighbours," said another resident. "There is a bat colony that will be affected by the light and there are also owls that live in the conservation area."

Pictured top: The front of the vinery as pictured from the road.