Deputy John Young says he wants large developments in special local places, in particular along the coastline and in areas such as Gorey and St Aubin, to enhance the character of their surroundings and not resemble ‘anywhere else in the UK’.
However, he knows that he may have a battle on his hands as the final say on any changes to Jersey’s building law and planning blueprint, the Island Plan, will rest with States Members.
‘I particularly want to look at setting limits on the size of developments on the coast,’ he said.
‘I am talking about houses of 20,000 square feet, what people refer to as mansion houses, that are the very sort of properties that are detrimental to the character of Jersey.
‘But changing these policies would have to be agreed by the States, so it is my job to come up with proposals to put forward for public consultation and a planning enquiry before taking it to the States for Members to decide.’
Stretches of the coastline are already subject to the Island’s strictest planning conditions as the States have designated them part of the Jersey Coastal National Park where there is a presumption against all new development.
Moreover, areas within the park – such as Les Landes heathland and parts of the coastal strip in St Ouen’s Bay – are further protected as they have been classified as internationally recognised Sites of Special Interest.
Mr Young wants to make these regulations even tougher and he would like to make other coastal and inland locations designated conservation areas to protect the Island vernacular architecture and local surroundings.
He has asked the Jersey Architecture Commission – an advisory group set up to provide independent, expert advice and guidance on major and sensitive developments in Jersey – to come up with design standards to judge all buildings against.
This will also apply to building design as well as limiting the size and scale of developments.
‘I have asked them to see what we can do to ensure that Jersey does not become like everywhere else in the UK,’ he said. ‘Jersey still has lots of individual locations with a definite character, such as Gorey and St Aubin, which I want to see become “conservation areas”.
Deputy Young, who beat the previous Environment Minister Steve Luce for the post by one vote when the States decided the composition of the Council of Ministers in June, doesn’t want to stifle all developments, just the ones he believes are harming the Island’s special character.
‘The Coastal National Park is supposed to be where you find Jersey’s very special places but there are existing developments within, and what we should not be doing is preventing people altering their homes for their own family needs,’ he said.
‘But when there is an application for a massive extension to transform a building’s appearance into some grand design mansion that is not what I want to see in such special places.’
