27 September 2023
The Minister for the Environment and his Determining Panel have refused the planning application
to develop South West St Helier Waterfront.
The decision was made in line with policies outlined in the Bridging Island Plan 2022 and with full
consideration of a report produced by appointed independent planning inspector, Phillip Staddon,
which has been published today.
The inspector’s report recommended that the planning application should not be accepted in its
current form.
It further recommended that the application should remain open to allow the
applicant to make adjustments, leading to a second “mini planning inquiry”.
The Determining Panel agreed the application should not be accepted but added that there are too
many areas of the application which require significant changes and therefore decided not to leave
the application open for adjustments.
This means a new application will need to be submitted.
The Minister for the Environment, Deputy Jonathan Renouf, said: “This development is of huge
significance for our Island and its residents. Therefore, it needs to be an exemplar. The Determining
Panel believes the Waterfront is an opportunity to achieve something special in terms of urban
design, public realm, and sustainable transport. However, the current application fails to meet the
required standard.
“I wish to thank the independent inspector for his work in holding the public inquiry and for
producing an exceptionally thorough and clear report. I would also like to thank all those who
contributed to the public inquiry which fed into the report.”
The application was refused for a number of areas, and as with all applications was considered
against the policies within the Bridging Island Plan 2022 and relevant supplementary planning
guidance.
An overview of reasons for refusal include:
- The proposed development would fail to achieve the SWSHPF community expectation of
reconnection between St Helier and the Waterfront.
- The application does not demonstrate how it will achieve good quality housing and living
conditions. Most of the proposed flats are likely to be single aspect, many would be facing
a noisy road and some would have poor aspects due to facing tall buildings at close
proximity.
- The application provides insufficient improvements to La Route de la Liberation, leaving a
largely untamed highway that separates the waterfront from the rest of town.
- The proposed development involves substantial excavation to create basement areas for
parking and servicing. This would produce contaminated waste for which there is no
satisfactory waste management solution.
- The proposed level of affordable housing represents a low level of provision.
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