Developer Dandara had applied to construct 16 two-bedroom flats in two two-storey apartment blocks, as well as a seven-bedroom home, on the plot at the top of Tower Road and above First Tower.
However, although members of the Planning Committee praised Dandara for scaling back its initial plans to build two three-storey apartment blocks on the land, the panel also voiced concerns about the height of the house and its impact on the skyline.
And it was because of those concerns that permission was refused by six votes to one.
Several Islanders opposed the plans during the meeting, including Chris Hamon, who lives next to the proposed development.
Mr Hamon, who told the panel he represented 14 other households, said the residents ‘welcomed’ the initial concessions by Dandara to reduce the height of the blocks and the number of apartments from 20 to 16.
‘We are not saying no development whatsoever,’ he added. ‘We accept that something will be developed there but we say it can’t be at all cost.
‘Fundamentally it is to do with size and scale and density.’
John Clarke told the panel that the development would result in a loss to the ‘green backdrop zone’ [tree line] around St Helier.
‘It is right up in the skyline from First Tower. It can be visualised from as far as St Aubin’s,’ he said.
Nigel Weston, who lives on the site in a home which had been earmarked to be demolished if the scheme had been approved, spoke in favour of the development. If it had been given the go-ahead he would have lived in the new seven-bedroom home.
Mr Weston said he had worked with Dandara to draw up the scheme. ‘It was on the clear understanding that we together worked very hard to make this a better scheme for neighbours and everybody,’ he said. ‘My position is I’m a human being with a family. It is important to me that we don’t fall out with all my neighbours, important that the drainage works, or else my house will subside on Tower Road.
‘It is important to me because I’m going to be there for the long term and hopefully so will my kids.’
Panel member Jeremy Maçon, who voted against the proposal, said: ‘A lot of hard work has gone on here. I think we are 90 per cent there but I’m concerned with unit three, the home, about the impact it has on the green backdrop zone.’
Panel chairman Deputy Russell Labey, Deputies Rowland Huelin and Graham Truscott, and Constables Philip Le Sueur and Deidre Mezbourian also voted against the plans. Deputy Scott Wickenden voted in favour of the application.
