Thursday 14 December 2023
General Update
Sir/Madam,
I should firstly like to thank Deputy Murray for his work on the DPA before his election to Policy & Resources Committee, and similarly thank Deputy Blin for stepping so ably into Deputy Murray's shoes at the DPA. Both Members have shown themselves to be more than suited for the challenge which our mandate inevitably brings and I thank both for their contributions.
The work of the Committee and Officers is currently dominated by the focused review of the IDP and workstream to streamline the Plan-making and amendment process, and secondly preparation of the Local Planning Brief for the St Peter Port and St Sampson Harbour Action Areas.
Taking the IDP review first, we are in the thick of the evidence-gathering stage which will last until the end of this year, to be followed quickly by the drafting of policies which will be tested through the Planning Inquiry next year. We are committed to reporting the draft Plan and outcome of the Inquiry to the Assembly for decision in the early part of 2025, well prior to the General Election.
The focus of the review is on housing land supply and delivery, being the most pressing domestic issue today, and employment land supply. The review of housing land supply will include the topic of affordable housing which will consider Policy GP11 and address the States' Resolution concerning investigation of use of a financial contribution in lieu of affordable housing provision. The Committee has agreed to address this as part of the focussed Plan review as the most efficient use of resources.
In parallel with this review, we are also looking at the Planning Law, Ordinances and Regulations to identify options to streamline the process of amending the IDP in the future. The aim of this is to ensure that we can facilitate a more responsive and proportionate approach when changes to planning policies need to be made, for example in response to changing strategic approaches and Government priorities.
As part of the IDP review, we have recently carried out a call for sites to help identify opportunities for land to meet our housing and employment needs. The call for sites is an opportunity for residents, landowners, developers and organisations to suggest land which is available and suitable for development for housing, or for offices, industry or storage and distribution. We have received upward of 350 sites for consideration. The results of the call for sites will feed into strategic studies which will inform the review of the IDP policies in relation to housing and employment land supply.
We are also updating sites designated as Areas of Biodiversity Importance, or ABIs, recognising our commitment to the natural environment and need to counteract the loss of biodiversity. This responds to the promise made at the IDP Inquiry to re-survey and update some ABIs and to identify any additional ABIs. This survey work and analysis has been done and agreed by the Committee, with an increase of 47 ABIs proposed. Therefore it is included in the current review to make sure the ABI designations are as up to date as possible.
Once the Plan amendments have been drafted and agreed by the Authority, the draft Plan will be subject to public consultation in advance of the Planning Inquiry in 2024 at which representations can be made to an independent Planning Inspector. We anticipate the Inspector's report being available before the end of 2024. The draft Plan will be referred to the States early in 2025 for debate.
The other major focus of work currently relates to the preparation of a Local Planning Brief for the St Peter Port and St Sampson Harbour Action Areas. The LPB will set the policy framework and high-level approach to prospective development. Tibbalds Planning and Urban Design has commenced work on the LPB on behalf of the States, which is expected to be completed in early 2025.
We are keen that everyone who wishes can participate in this does so. We have already commenced consultation with States' Committees and other bodies, have met with the Development Agency and will be meeting with Harbours shortly.
Once a draft Local Planning Brief has been prepared, it will be subject to public consultation before consideration at a Planning Inquiry run by an independent Planning Inspector. It will then be brought before the States' Assembly for approval; again, well before the General Election. If agreed by the States, the Local Planning Brief will form part of the IDP and will provide guidance to developers and set the parameters within which development can come forward within the Harbour Action Areas.
In the meantime, the Authority is open to consider proposals through Policy MC10 that will not prejudice the Local Planning Brief. This will be a key consideration with the current scheme for Quayside, for example.
On other matters, in March we enacted the significantly updated and extended Planning Exemptions Ordinance. This has removed the requirement for a planning application for many additional forms of development, and helps streamline the planning process. Please remember though many will still need building control. We are monitoring the effects of this, in terms of the reduced number of applications, and although it is early days we have already identified some minor changes to improve the operation which can be achieved through Regulations. We appreciate the assistance of the Corporate Communications Team in preparing the new guidance which will be published shortly.
We also gained the Assembly's approval for our policy proposals to address land which is affecting the amenity of an area, also known as 'eyesore sites'. We look forward to conclusion of the drafting process and the implementation of this legislation, which will play an important role in securing revitalisation and act as a deterrent to prevent the future creation of eyesores through dereliction and neglect. We have asked that the legal drafting be prioritised.
At a lesser scale, we have approved Regulations to amend the High Hedges Law to clarify that it also applies to single trees, as originally envisaged by Deputy Brouard, and to extend the temporary exemption for change of use of visitor accommodation through 2024 to provide a further opportunity to address current issues surrounding key worker housing in the short-term.
We held two high-profile Open Planning Meetings dealing with proposals for Leale's Yard and Briarwood, which together provide for some 364 new housing units. Both applications were approved and will make a sizable contribution to meeting our housing requirements when built. Many other applications involving housing have been considered and approved by our professional Officers including conversion of buildings such as offices and upper floors of shops within our Town Centre to flats as well as residential developments elsewhere. Consequently the pipeline supply of housing with planning permission remains healthy at 542 dwellings.
Since my last update, we also further increased the thresholds for Development Frameworks to 30 dwellings in the Main Centres and 15 in Local Centres, making the process of applying for housing development on medium to larger sites more straightforward.
We have also approved two new editions of the Guernsey Technical Standards relating to Fire Safety. The updated Standards have resulted from the initial recommendations of the ongoing Inquiry into the Grenfell Tower disaster. Elements of this are in advance of the UK, for example relating to fire safety in residential care homes and underground car parks. Overall, this is very important particularly as we are seeing proposals for higher-rise buildings come forward.
On a slightly different tack, we engaged the part of our mandate relating to protection of our built heritage. We listed the WWII Naval Batterie Strasburg at Jerbourg as a Protected Building, and listed parts of the Castel Hospital. I would point out that matters to be considered in listing decisions are limited to those relating to the special architectural and historic interest of the buildings. I would add that we have not prevented housing development at Castel Hospital by the partial listing, given that this is neither an allocated housing site nor within a Main or Local Centre. We will however be looking at this site further as part of the focused review of the IDP.
I hope that Members will agree that with the focussed review of the IDP and the preparation of the LPB for the Harbour Action Areas, in addition to its other work, the DPA has some very significant and exciting opportunities to contribute to the future of our Island economically, socially and environmentally.
On more operational matters, we continue to see the high numbers of planning and building control applications which is an encouraging sign of our strong economy. Planning decision speeds have improved over recent months with successful recruitment, and application determination times are in line with our targets of 8 and 13 weeks. Progress toward the introduction of a digital planning portal is continuing. As is often the case with such technical projects involving multiple stakeholders, there have been some delays however we expect the portal to be operational early next year and will be calling for users to test it shortly.
I would also take this opportunity to advise Members that application fees for Planning and Building Control applications are set to rise shortly by 7.3% RPI for the preceding year. However, in response to discussions with the Policy & Resources Committee, we are also looking to apply the user-pays principle more thoroughly to Planning and Building Control so further increases are likely next year.
Sir/Madam, I would now be pleased to take any questions.