Government of Jersey

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A decision made (13 October 2009) regarding: SSI's - Le Dolmen du Couperon, St. Martin - Le Dolmen du Mont Ube, St. Clement.

Decision Ref:	MD–PE–2009-0125
Subject:	List as a Site of Special Interest: prehistoric monuments of outstanding importance to the archaeological heritage of Jersey
Decision Summary Title:	DS - List as a Site of Special Interest prehistoric monuments of outstanding importance to the archaeological heritage of Jersey
DS Author:	Assistant Director
DS Date:	07 October 2009	DS Status:	Public
Written Report Title:	WR – List as a Site of Special Interest: prehistoric monuments of outstanding importance to the archaeological heritage of Jersey
WR Author:	Assistant Director
WR Date	14 May 2009	WR Status:	Public
Oral Rapporteur:	Assistant Director: Policy and Projects / Curator of Archaeology (Jersey Heritage)
Decision(s):	The Minister for Planning and Environment added these sites, based on the extent of land delineated in the schedules and associated plans, to the List of Sites of Special Interest: Le Dolmen du Couperon, St Martin; Le Dolmen du Mont Ube, St Clement; Whilst the Minister for Planning and Environment was minded to List the following as a Site of Special Interest, he did not accept the recommendation of Jersey Heritage with regard to the boundary of the site and sought its amendment to exclude that building embraced by the designation at its southern edge, and the reserving of Notice. La Hougue Boete, St John.
Reason(s) for Decision:	The decision gives formal effect to that made in February 2008 (see MD-PE-2008-0031); The special interest of these sites, as defined and in the respective schedules and relative to the published criteria for selection, justifies their inclusion on the List of Sites of Special Interest in accordance with the provisions and purposes of the Planning and Building (Jersey) Law 2002 and; It accords with the States Strategic Plan commitment of protecting and sympathetically managing the Island’s built heritage assets.
Legal and Resource Implications:	Article 51(2)(b) of the Planning and Building (Jersey) Law 2002 enables the Minister to include on the List of Sites of Special Interest those buildings and places that the Minister is satisfied has public importance by reason of the special archaeological, architectural, artistic, historical, scientific or traditional interest that attached to the building or place.
Action required:	Notify the owner and those making representations Update the List of Sites of Special Interest Notify Development Control and Environment Department; Reserve Notice to interested parties in relation to La Hougue Boete, St John
Signature:
Position:	Minister for Planning and Environment
Date Signed:		Date of Decision (If different to Date Signed):

SSI's - Le Dolmen du Couperon, St. Martin - Le Dolmen du Mont Ube, St. Clement

PLANNING AND ENVIRONMENT

List as Sites of Special Interest

Prehistoric monuments of outstanding importance

to the archaeological heritage of Jersey

Purpose of the Report

The purpose of this report is to enable the Minister to consider Listing important archaeological sites in the Island as Sites of Special Interest.

Background

In February 2008, the Minister for Planning and Environment considered the response to consultation on proposals of Jersey Heritage to identify and designate over 160 sites of archaeological interest in the Island. In so doing, the Minister effectively approved the designation of a number of sites as proposed Sites of Special Interest (SSI) (see MD-PE-2008-0031 at appendix 1)

To formally List these sites as SSIs, the Planning and Building (Jersey) Law 2002 requires a number of formal processes to be completed: the first of these requires the service of a notice and a schedule.

Jersey Heritage has prepared detailed schedules for all of the following proposed SSIs (schedules attached at appendix 2):

Le Dolmen du Couperon, St Martin;
Le Dolmen du Mont Ube, St Clement;
La Hougue Boete, St John;

The Minister has considered these schedules and has accordingly reaffirmed his Intention to add these sites to the List of Sites of Special Interest (see MD-PE-2009-0009, dated 26 January 2009).

Notices of the Minister’s intent have been issued to those known to have an interest in these sites in addition to which notice of the Minister’s intent has also been served on site, as well as copies of the relevant details being lodged with the relevant parish administration.

The period of notice has now expired. No written representations have been received in relation to the proposal to add Le Dolmen du Couperon, St Martin and Le Dolmen du Mont Ubé, St Clement to the List of SSIs.

It is relevant to note that, in respect of Le Dolmen du Couperon, Jersey Heritage has sought to extend the extent of protection around the site (to a 25m radius) which is consistent with the approach adopted for other dolmen sites: revised Notices have accordingly been served on owners and interested parties, with no representations being received.

Despite views to the contrary, and as a matter of public record, Notice of the Minister’s Intention to designate La Hougue Boete has been served on the principal owner of the land; the Parish (as owners of the road) and also a Notice has been erected on site, to alert any other landowner or interest party to the Minister’s proposals. In response, representation has been received in respect of the extent of proposed designation at La Hougue Boete, St John and this is set out below and attached at appendix 3.

Discussion

The representations received are from owners of land to the east of Rue des Buttes who, whilst they support the principle of protecting the dolmen and the land immediately adjacent to it, do not support the inclusion of land to the east of the road (amounting to part of their gardens and the corner of one building on the site (apparently comprising a kitchen). There are a number of issues which need to be considered in respect of these representations.

Part of the concern is based on a misapprehension, articulated by local political representatives for this area, that designation of this area as an SSI would mean that the owners ‘couldn’t change the kitchen sink’ without the Minister’s permission. This is not the case.

If the owners wanted to undertake works that had no implications for the archaeology that may lie within 25m of the dolmen, such as changing the kitchen sink, then the SSI designation would have no implications. If they wanted to build a wine cellar beneath the kitchen or create a swimming pool in the garden, for example, which had the potential to affect the archaeology then there may be a requirement for some archaeological evaluation to assess whether or not there was any archaeology there and if so, what it was, and what implications the proposal had for it: it would not necessarily result in a recommendation that the proposal be refused.

The same applies to the Parish road itself: the regular maintenance of the road would have no implications for archaeology and SSI designation would have no effect on the regulation of such works. If the Parish wished to totally rebuild the road, however, and to excavate the level of the road to a depth lower than that which exists, then there may be a requirement for archaeological evaluation and assessment, if the SSI is confirmed for this area.

The important issue upon which the proposed SSI designation is based, in accordance with law and international convention, is that archaeological considerations are part of the assessment of any planning applications that might affect areas of archaeological interest. The issues raised by the representations are not, however, strictly material to whether or not the area has any archaeological interest, which is the matter that the Minister is required to determine in deciding whether or not to designate this site an SSI.

La Hougue Boete, St John, is the only known closed Neolithic chamber in the Channel Islands, and its archaeological value is high. It clearly existed before the road, the gardens and the buildings on land to the east of the dolmen. Jersey Heritage’s views as to the extent of the archaeological interest of the site are set out in the supplementary report at appendix 4.

Recommendation

Having regard to the original recommendation of Jersey Heritage to designate these sites as Sites of Special Interest (see MD-PE-2008-0031) and in light of the fact that those representations received do not question the archaeological value of the site but concern themselves with the implications (albeit misplaced) of designation, which should not be material to the Minister’s deliberations, it is recommended that the Minister for Planning and Environment accepts the recommendation of Jersey Heritage to add these sites, based on the extent of land delineated in the schedules and associated plans, to the List of Sites of Special Interest in accord with the requirements of the Planning and Building (Jersey) Law 2002 and in pursuance of his earlier decision of accord with his decision of 18 February 2008.

Reason(s) for Decision

The decision gives formal effect to that made in February 2008 (see MD-PE-2008-0031);
The special interest of these three sites, as defined and in the respective schedules and relative to the published criteria for selection, justifies their inclusion on the List of Sites of Special Interest in accordance with the provisions and purposes of the Planning and Building (Jersey) Law 2002 and;
It accords with the States Strategic Plan commitment of protecting and sympathetically managing the Island’s built heritage assets.

Legal and resource implications

The Minister is empowered to add buildings or places to the List of Sites of Special Interest where he is satisfied they have public importance, having considered all relevant material considerations as set out in the Law. In adding a building or place to the List the Minister is then able to control certain operations not amounting to development in order to protect the special interest of the building or place.

Action Required

Notify the owner
Update the List of Sites of Special Interest
Notify Development Control

Written by:	Kevin Pilley, Assistant Director

Endorsed by: