Draft supplementary planning guidance: residential space standards

Department	The Cabinet Office
Start date	06/03/2023
End date	17/04/2023
Type of consultation	Other
Deadline for comments	17/04/2023

About the consultation

This supplementary planning guidance has been developed and issued as a draft for consultation in accord with part of Proposal 20 of the bridging Island Plan which states that the Minister for the Environment will review, and issue revised supplementary planning guidance setting out new design standards for the design and specification of new homes to ensure that new residential accommodation can provide islanders with good quality homes.

This guidance has been prepared following engagement with the Housing and Regeneration Team in the Cabinet Office. The consultation programme will include formal consultation with relevant ministers including the:

Minister for Housing and Communities
Minister for Health and Social Services
Minister for Economic Development, Tourism, Sport and Culture.

Draft supplementary planning guidance: residential space standards

Context

The island has adopted and used residential space standards, setting out the minimum requirements for the development of new States rental and first-time buyer homes, since 1985. This was adopted as supplementary planning guidance, in 1991 and became applicable to all new housing, in 1994.

These standards were based on the Parker Morris Standards, and the subsequent UK Ministry of Housing’s Ministry of Housing's Design Bulletin 6 – Space in the Home, which became mandatory in the UK in 1967. The mandatory nature of the standards was withdrawn by the UK Government in the 1980s, but the standards have remained, as guidance, in Jersey throughout this time. This has served the island well and has ensured that much of the island’s housing stock is built to a reasonable standard.

Despite changes to the island’s demography, the way we live, and current expectations, the Jersey standards have not been comprehensively reviewed since 1994. Some minor changes to them were made, relating to a 10% increase to the minimum house sizes in 2009, but no further changes have been made since.

Comparison

The existing guidance for residential space standards in Jersey is provided by Policy Note 6 - minimum specifications for new housing developments.

The UK government published new national technical housing standards in 2015.

A comparison of existing and proposed standards is set out in the following tables.

Draft supplementary planning guidance: residential space standards comparator tables

Table 1: Minimum gross internal area (GIA) sq m
Table 1A: Minimum gross internal area (GIA) sq m comparison Jersey/UK
Table 2: Minimum combined floor area of living, dining and kitchen spaces (sq m)
Table 3: Minimum floor areas of bedroom spaces (sq m)
Table 4: Minimum storage spaces (sq m)
Table 5: Minimum private amenity space: flats (sq m)
Table 6: Minimum private amenity space: houses (sq m)

Public meeting

A webinar on the draft planning guidance for residential parking standards was held on Tuesday 4 April 2023. Watch the residential space standards webinar on YouTube.

Data protection

For information on how we handle personal data for this consultation please visit Strategic Planning, Policy and Performance privacy policies and retention schedules.

How to submit comments to the consultation

This consultation is closed.

Responses to the consultation

Draft supplementary planning guidance was prepared, following engagement with the Housing and Regeneration Team in the Cabinet Office and published for consultation in March 2023.

This generated much constructive feedback and the Minister has carefully considered the responses received and made changes to the draft guidance.

The revised guidance will assist with the consistent application and interpretation of bridging Island Plan Policy H1: Housing quality and design.

Residential space standards consultation response

SPG Residential space standards