States urged to act on concerns over housing plans

A parish has called on the States to act over concerns about the impact of plans to build more than 1,000 new homes over the next six years.

The new homes would be built in St Sampson's in Guernsey under the Island Development Plan's (IDA) spatial strategy, alongside plans for 89 new homes in Vazon.

But St Sampson's Parish Douzaine said that while concessions had been made in relation to the Vazon plans, the Development and Planning Authority (DPA) had failed to act on concerns about the impact on infrastructure in their parish, including a rise in traffic volumes of as much as 50%.

The DPA has been approached for comment.

Karl Guille, from St Sampson's Parish Douzaine, said they had "been on the back foot" since the IDA was introduced in 2011, putting "the majority of new housing in our parish".

"We are concerned that our infrastructure simply can't cope with the level of development that is being proposed," he said.

He said it was "somewhat ironic" that the Development and Planning Authority chose to recognise road safety, traffic management and other concerns raised around the planned development of 89 new homes in Vazon "when it continues to promote over 1,000 new houses in the north of the island".

Guille said several road junctions were already operating over capacity and traffic volumes there were more than twice the levels seen in the west and south of the island.

In a statement issued in response to the plans, the Douzaine said it was disappointed there had not been a review to the spatial strategy to allow the "burden of development to be shared more widely".

The 1,000 new homes represented 64% of the island's allocation, they added.

The parish's junior constable Joe Abbotts said it was a shame concerns continually highlighted by the parish and traffic consultants in 2010 and in 2012 "have largely been ignored".

"Central to those concerns is the cumulative impact such developments will have on existing roads infrastructure resulting in numerous junctions operating above capacity with significant queuing," he added.

Concerns have also been expressed about the increased flood risk if large numbers of housing were to be built on low lying land such as in the Braye du Valle and about the impact on existing public utility infrastructure.

St Sampson's Douzaine said while it appreciated that demand for housing, and especially affordable housing, was becoming increasingly urgent, the new housing would cause a "significant increase" in demand on "already constrained roads and public utility infrastructure".

Parishioners of St Sampson were also "rightly concerned about the potential depreciation in the value of their homes and the deterioration in the quality of life that could arise living in such highly developed areas", the spokesperson added.

The spatial strategy prioritises housing development in and around the edges of the urban centres of St Peter Port and St Sampson and Vale.

A spokesperson for St Sampson's Douzaine said they were "extremely disappointed the States had not taken the opportunity to review the strategy to allow the burden of development to be shared more widely".

They said some of the latest proposed amendments to the draft plan were sensible in seeking to concentrate future developments on brownfield or redundant glasshouse sites and creating some limited additional housing sites in the west and south of the island.

But these amendments "do not go anywhere near far enough in the opinion of St Sampson's Douzaine to allay existing concerns over the anticipated impact that such high levels of continued development will have on the north of the Island", they added.

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