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STATEMENT TO BE MADE BY THE PRESIDENT OF THE ENVIRONMENT AND PUBLIC SERVICES COMMITTEE ON 1st APRIL 2003
Members will be aware from my reply to questions from Deputy G. C. L. Baudains of St. Clement on 4 February that I undertook to make a statement to the States, once the period following deposit of the plans had elapsed, on the procedure which the Environment & Public Services Committee intend to follow to determine the planning application submitted by the Jersey Heritage Trust for Mont Orgueil (P/2003/0251).
The Committee has a statutory duty under the Island Planning (Jersey) Law 1964 to judge each application strictly on its merits in the context of approved planning policies and will follow due process in ensuring its objectivity and fairness . This application has generated an unprecedented amount of public debate on a range of issues .Consequently the Committee has received over 50 written representations about the Jersey Heritage Trust's planning application for works at Mont Orgueil and its officers are now making their assessment of the proposals in conjunction with the Committee's independent professional adviser, Mr Paul Drury.
The application is for a complex scheme involving over 160 individual elements ranging from minor repairs to significant works of restoration and re-creation. Most of the proposed works relate to routine repairs, renewals and archaeological investigation and may not be contentious. These aspects of the scheme have raised little comment in the written representations. Most interest and concern centres on the proposals to re- create roofs and floors on the site identified in the application as the Tudor Hall and related spaces, and in proposals to introduce new facilities and services. The Committee is especially concerned that these more sensitive aspects of the proposal are carefully considered and that all relevant opinions are taken properly into account.
The Committee has now decided its programme for the determination of the application in a way in which it can be certain that interested persons will be enabled to contribute effectively. The application will be determined by the Environment & Public Services Committee rather than the Planning Sub-Committee. The Committee will meet during the period 11th to13th June 2003. In advance of this meeting, it will publish details of those parts of the application which it considers to be non-contentious and where further oral submissions are not expected to add to the process. However, the Committee will invite those persons or bodies who have made written representations on matters which the Committee considers contentious to attend , if they so choose , to explain their representations, , as this will assist the Committee in reaching its decisions.
Committee members may wish to question those invitees making oral presentations, based on the content of their written submissions. The Jersey Heritage Trust, as the applicant, will also be invited to explain their application having previously had the normal opportunity to respond to the written representations, and support its written response. This part of the Committee meeting will be open to the public , including the media .
The Committee will then retire to reach its conclusions on the various aspects of the application, in camera , taking careful account of the written and oral representations which will have been made. The Committee will then issue its formal decision(s) on the application to the Trust and will also publish a report detailing the reasons which underlie each of its decisions.
A more detailed programme setting out the logistical arrangements for this open Committee meeting will be circulated shortly, together with details of those parts of the application upon which individual persons or bodies will be invited to speak to the Committee.
It is the Committee's intention that written representations, the applicant's response and reports relating to this application will be in the public domain in advance of the meeting.
The Committee trusts that all those concerned with this very important application will agree that these arrangements will provide a thorough, transparent and appropriate process within a reasonable timeframe