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1240/5(4214)
WRITTEN QUESTION TO THE MINISTER FOR PLANNING AND ENVIRONMENT BY DEPUTY G.P. SOUTHERN OF ST. HELIER
ANSWER TO BE TABLED ON TUESDAY 3rd FEBRUARY 2009
Question
Will the Minister release to members the number of (under 55) one-bed flats under construction or with planning permission for 2008 and 2009 that he agreed would be made available as soon as possible in his response to my question on the oversupply of such dwelling on 15th July 2008?
Answer
I said in my answer last July that the provision of accurate figures would require recourse to original source material on all permissions and commencements, and matching them. Although the work had commenced in researching permissions granted in the years 2003 to 2008 (anything older than 2003 will have lapsed) which were either extant but not commenced, or were under construction, unfortunately, it was delayed as resources had to be allocated to the new Island Plan.
I would like to make Members aware how much work is necessary to produce this information. Our applications software is not designed to retrieve this type of information in a simple report, and the research has to be done manually.
In practice firstly an officer has to research the lists of every application from 2003 to 2008 (about 11000 records) to establish how many permissions have been granted for I-bedroom flats that do not have an over-55' condition: then, they need to compare these to the lists of completions (about 6,000 records) under the building bye-laws to establish whether they have been completed, and deduct this figure; and, finally, check this against our records of sites which currently have works under construction (about 1400 records).
As I have made clear on many occasions the department is significantly under resourced and we have to prioritise work.
I hope Deputy Southern will understand if this work is now prioritised to be provided as part of the "Planning for Homes" report into the supply of housing of different types against predicted needs, which is scheduled to be published in Spring 2009.