22 April 2016
Jersey’s Planning Applications Committee yesterday considered two applications for new businesses in the countryside.
The committee approved application P/2016/0009 for the development of agricultural land in St Martin to create a race horse training and livery business.
The applicant asked permission to build a number of facilities for the business, including a store, tack room, parking, existing sand school and yard in fields near La Rue des Buttes. Four stables were recently built on the site without the need for planning permission.
The applicants plan to keep 12 horses on site. Eight will be race horses, and four will be livery.
26 objections were raised to the proposed development. These included concerns about building permanent structures in an agricultural field, the loss of an agricultural field, and the impact on a quiet country lane.
The application also attracted six letters of support noting the need for facilities for racehorses, the benefits of horse racing to the island, the need for young trainers and the compatibility of the business with the character of the countryside.
The committee acknowledged the balance to be struck between supporting the rural economy and avoiding an unacceptable potential impact on the countryside, but saw a need to support diversification of the rural economy. They asked for permanent features of the application (such as hard standings) to be removed from the permission.
Dogs in Grouville
The committee also considered a request to reconsider a planning application (P/2015/1830) to use an agricultural field in Grouville for dog training.
The applicants wanted to keep a field on La Rue de la Lourderie for growing crops, and to introduce a secondary use as a dog training area.
The application received 35 letters of objection and ten in favour of the change of use.
Objectors were concerned about increased noise and disturbance and the general impact on quiet country lanes and the quality of life for surrounding residents.
The department shared concerns about possible increased traffic and what it described as the ‘domestication of an agricultural field’ in the parking areas.
The committee decided that the scheme didn’t fit with the Island Plan policy of limiting development in the Green Zone and safeguarding agricultural land.
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