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STATES OF JERSEY
FIELD 633, ST. PETER AND PROCEDURE FOR ISLAND PLAN H3 SITES
Lodged au Greffe on 20th April 2010
by the Minister for Planning and Environment
STATES GREFFE
2010 Price code: B P.52
PROPOSITION
THE STATES are asked to decide whether they are of opinion
- to confirm the procedural requirement that to enable the granting of permission for Category A housing purposes for any of the sites listed under Policy H3 – "Sites for further consideration for Category A Housing" of the 2002 Island Plan, the States Assembly must have first agreed their rezoning for development;
- to endorse the intention of the Minister for Planning and Environment to grant planning permission (under reference P/2009/2082) for the development of 14 Parish homes for the elderly and a caretaker's dwelling at Field 633, St. Peter .
MINISTER FOR PLANNING AND ENVIRONMENT
REPORT
The Minister for Planning and Environment has received advice that it is necessary, to enable the granting of permission for Category A housing purposes for any of the sites listed under Policy H3 of the 2002 Island Plan, that the site under consideration should first be brought before the States Assembly for approval of the policy treatment of that site as one for Category A housing. Indeed, the only other Policy H3 site which to date has been developed, namely Field 812A at Bagot Manor Farm in St. Saviour , was approved in March 2005 after reference to and approval by the States.
While clearly this procedure is implied in the Island Plan, and it has certainly been the expectation of States Members who were in the States when the 2002 Island Plan was adopted in July 2002, the wording contained in the Island Plan is not sufficiently explicit. Accordingly, in the interest of clarity, it is important that this procedural requirement is agreed by the States, and the support of the States to part (a) of the proposition is sought.
The issue has become apparent in respect of a particular application for Field 633 in St. Peter . The Parish of St. Peter has applied to construct 14 social-rented homes for the elderly, and one caretaker's home, on land it owns at Field 633, St. Peter (which is located on the plan appended to this Report). The proposal is to partially meet a proven need for this type of accommodation in the Parish of St. Peter .
From a wider policy perspective, the Minister is striving to ensure that new development to meet the Island's housing needs should be accommodated as far as practicable within existing developed areas and on brown-field' sites rather than encroaching into open green-field' areas. This indeed is the whole thrust of the policies for new housing development under the Draft Island Plan review which was published in September 2009 for public consultation.
The Minister does however consider that there is reasonable and sufficient justification to approve the proposed development at Field 633 for the following reasons –
- Field 633 is a small, irregular-shaped site comprising approximately one vergée (0.4 acres) of land. Before its recent clearance, the site included a number of small sheds, plus hard-standing areas, and was therefore a brown- field site. It has no effective use for agricultural purposes.
- The application proposal for Field 633 has been submitted by the Parish itself to provide social-rented homes for the elderly or disabled of the Parish to meet a specific need that could only be satisfied in St. Peter . There is no suitable and available alternative site so close to the village centre, shops and bus route. To this extent, its development accords with Policy H12 of the 2002 Island Plan – "Development to meet special requirements".
- The site has been approved for acquisition and development by a Parish Assembly.
- The planning application for the proposed development attracted just one objection letter from the occupiers of a neighbouring property, but their concerns were unfounded.
- The Draft Island Plan review proposes the zoning of Field 633 for Category A housing and, following the recent public consultation exercise which ended on 31st March 2010, no representations/objections were received on this proposal.
The Minister considered the application at his meeting on 7th April 2010, when he decided to grant planning permission. The Minister is satisfied that consultation on the application is sufficient to prove that the site is suitable for development, as required by Policy H3. However, the Minister is now firmly of the opinion that there was a legitimate expectation of the public and the States Assembly, in the context of the existing approved Island Plan, that sites listed in Policy H3 will be brought back to the States to be rezoned for Category A housing following public consultation.
Accordingly, the States are requested to endorse the Minister's intention to grant planning permission.
Financial and manpower implications
There are no financial or manpower implications for the States arising from the adoption of this proposition.
APPENDIX