Thursday 19 March 2015
Guernsey Press Open Lines Enquiry:
Dear Sir
I am concerned about the recent works attempting to convert an existing natural douit into a drain for 'grey' water from the rear of Les Grandes Rocques Hotel, in the public car park.
Several new drain pipes have been laid where the existing wall has been temporarily demolished and discharge within and alongside the existing land drain existing the property, into the douit, which has been deepened and enlarged. The existing open douit runs into a 300mm pipe and runs under the car park out to sea. I know this area is outside the GuernseyWater catchment, but this soiled water should not be allowed to discharge off the site where it is produced. I haven't checked at Cadastre who the owner/director is . . . is Building Control turning a blind eye again? Is it because it's someone influential? I know this sort of things goes on but I think it should be prevented when possible.
A public Environment Department reply would be appreciated.
Environment Department Response:
The Environment Department welcomes the opportunity to respond to the comments made by your correspondent. Clearly the writer understands the difference between grey water and surface water drainage. For clarity it is important that your readers are aware that grey water is the term given to waste water that originates from, for example baths and showers and surface water is the run off drainage as a result of rainfall, for example off roof areas and through the land. This is not foul drainage or toilet waste.
The douit in question runs over public land managed by the Environmental Services unit of the Environment Department. The douit receives surface water drainage from a wide area of Grande Rocque however due to a build-up of sandy silt, which had considerably reduced the depth of the douit over a number of years, the flow and efficiency near the outlet close to Chateau Grande Rocque had become severely restricted. Since this dredging work was carried out Guernsey Water has been regularly monitoring the douit and associated drainage and has confirmed to the Department that no grey water has been detected.
In addition as part of its on-going monitoring of the Islands drainage network, Guernsey Water will be undertaking drainage surveys of the wider area of Grandes Rocque to ensure that any sources of potential contamination can be identified and eliminated.
The Environment Department can assure your correspondent that it takes the matter of controlling building works, as required under the Building Regulations, extremely seriously and does not 'turn a blind eye' when a contravention is identified irrespective of a person's influence in the community. If your correspondent would like to contact the Department's enforcement team with specific details of where he/she feels that the regulations have not been complied with, procedures are in place to ensure that such matters are fully investigated and legal action taken where appropriate.
The Department has recently issued a 'Statement of Planning Enforcement' that can be found on the States of Guernsey website following the links to Planning and Building - Latest Planning News and Updates. Finally the Department would like to thank you for affording us the opportunity to comment.
Contact Information:
Andy Mauger, Building Control Manager
Environment Department
Tel: 717200
