Monday 12 December 2022
The Development & Planning Authority (DPA) has deferred a decision regarding planning permission for the development of 26 dwellings at Briarwood, following an Open Planning Meeting today.
Deputy Victoria Oliver and Deputy John Dyke voted to approve the planning application. Deputy Andrew Taylor and Deputy Sasha Kazantseva-Miller voted to defer the application on the basis of the viability assessment for Policy GP11.
Following on from this decision, the DPA will engage with the applicants for the development to review the costs in the viability assessment and reconsider access in the vicinity of Briarwood.
When a proposed development involves a net increase of more than 20 dwellings, a proportion of affordable housing must be provided, except where the provision of affordable housing would result in the development becoming unviable.
In this instance, for 26 dwellings, Policy GP11 of the Island Development Plan would have required 28% of the developable part of the site to be provided for affordable housing. However, following an independent expert assessment, it was deemed that this requirement would have made the development unviable. Therefore, in compliance with Policy GP11, there was no requirement for this development to include affordable housing.
During the planning process, 49 representations were received from stakeholders and members of the public. Seven individuals spoke publicly at the meeting, some of whom raised concerns about the application. The main concerns raised by representors at the meeting included, but were not limited to the:
- design and construction not being in-keeping with St Martin's Local Centre
- potential increase of traffic in the area
- density of parking at the proposed dwellings
- loss of semi-improved or amenity grassland
- viability assessment in relation to Policy GP 11
Deputy Victoria Oliver, President of the DPA, said:
"I'd like to thank the members of our community who have engaged with the planning process and made representations for us to consider. I'd also like to thank those who took the time to speak at the meeting this afternoon. We greatly value hearing from different perspectives on these matters which in turn shapes the developments.
"We will now engage with the developers to consider the way forward."
