Development of Redundant Glasshouse Sites
Having settled into a pan-island routine of waiting for fog to clear or for busted Flybe planes to be fixed, ‘every cloud’ as they say, has given me time to reflect on Guernsey’s Island Development Plan. The forward Planning Department has been particularly busy of late and at last they seem to have realised that the Island is littered with redundant greenhouses.
Even more impressive, they have actually penned some policies which appear to offer landowners incentives to clear these bloney eyesores; although, I am led to believe this is quite costly, at £30k per hectare. With my nose now hard pressed to the Flybe window, I can see that the majority of glasshouses are in the countryside.
There it is, Policy OC7 - Redundant Glasshouse Sites Outside of the Centres. If you’re determined enough to read the IDP written statement, make sure that you also read the small print that supports each policy.
The bad news is that the Planners do not want wholesale development of the majority of glasshouse sites, and certainly not if within, or adjacent to, a site zoned on the IDP proposals map as an agricultural priority area. Similarly, if the cleared site would contribute to a wider area of open land, you've probably had your chips!
The good news is that for small enclosed glasshouse sites, there are now development possibilities, provided it's small scale, with industrial use or storage being a good bet.
In a similar vein, Policy GP15 - Creation and Extension of Curtilage is also on the happy list for these sites - breaking a long-established taboo for such proposals.
Of course, each and every site will be considered on its own merits but it might well be worth having a closer look at www.gov.gg or even better, contact me at PF+A and get some input for your particular site.
If you’re digitally savvy you can even use Facebook Messenger.
Look out for my next blog post on building across our islands which is coming soon!
Luv
PBF