What is this consultation all about?
Tibbalds Planning and Urban Design is leading the project team appointed by the Development and Planning Authority to create a Local Planning Brief (LPB) for the St Peter Port and St Sampson Harbour Action Areas.
This strategic policy document will identify opportunities for change and enhancement of these two important areas along Guernsey’s east coast, and will guide and shape development over the next 10-20 years.
This consultation is taking place before the Local Planning Brief is written in order to test and review emerging ideas for the brief and to get your feedback on the priorities for the document.
Both of the Harbour Action Areas (HAAs) are complex and support a wide range of activities and uses and so change will need to be carefully thought out and coordinated.
This page is a summary of the consultation material. We welcome your feedback on these initial proposals.
How to engage with this consultation
We would like you to:
- Read the consultation information on this website
- Read any FAQs on the website.
- Fill in our feedback form.
The closing date for responses is: 12th April 2024.
What is a Local Planning Brief?
A Local Planning Brief (LPB) is a type of planning policy document that is required by the Island Development Plan (IDP 2016). It will make policies and proposals for a specific area where there are strategic land use implications and wider issues to be resolved.
A LPB is required for the two Harbour Action Areas and details are set out in Annex III of the Island Development Plan.
The Harbour Action Areas LPB will be a tool to help manage development and change in a positive way. It will sit alongside the IDP and will be part of the planning process.
Over the last six months the project team have been making sure we have a good understanding of what happens in the two harbours, how they work and identifying opportunities for change that best support the island as a whole, its people, environment and economy.
The location of the Harbour Action Areas - click to enlarge
Emerging Vision:
“To ensure that St Peter Port and St Sampson Harbour Action areas are fit for purpose for the future and that they enable positive change that benefits the community, the economy and the environment of the island as a whole.”
Introduction, summary of analysis and vision
The initial boards in this consultation explain the role and purpose of the Local Planning Brief and what it is required to cover and to consider. This includes setting out a timeline for the production and adoption of the LPB over the next year with a plan for it to be debated by the States in the Spring of 2025 following an independent inquiry.
The Local Planning Brief has five main objectives it must respond to:
- Provide infrastructure that protects Guernsey’s east coast and harbours from current and future environmental threats.
- Provide transport infrastructure which improves transport connectivity and choice to, within and between the Main Centres.
- Provide infrastructure to develop modern and resilient harbours which create opportunities to provide improved social, economic and environmental infrastructure.
- Provide infrastructure that supports Guernsey’s housing requirements.
- Provide infrastructure that supports existing business activity and creates new economic opportunities.
Together this means addressing climate change; making places for all; being consistent with the States priorities and policies; and considering the health and wellbeing of all those on the island.
The Local Planning Brief needs to work with two very different scenarios around the operational port, which is how people and goods currently arrive and leave the island. These scenarios consider both that: these uses stay in the same place in St Peter Port; and that they are relocated to a new harbour potentially off Longue Hougue to the north.
A summary of the analysis of both Harbour Action Areas (boards 2 and 3) identifies the key issues for St Sampson HAA and St Peter Port HAA.
Finally, board 4 sets out an initial vision for the Local Planning Brief based on the analysis and research undertaken into the two harbours, and considers their future potential to support the island.
Key development themes
This section of the consultation material responds to the objectives, issues and challenges identified for the Local Planning Brief. Each board has a different area of focus and sets out the kind of policy objectives and ideas that the the planning brief can support in terms of encouraging and guiding future change. This includes:
- Board 5 outlines potential improvements to walking, cycling, bus services, and e-mobility across the Harbour Action Areas, how they relate to St Peter Port and St Sampson and also proposes a potential link between them.
- Board 6 considers economic opportunities and specifically how the Harbour Action Areas should support the local economy and attract investment, including celebrating existing businesses and consolidating marine-related industry.
- Board 7 looks at quality of place and how the existing heritage and character can be celebrated, and support leisure, culture and the arts. It also looks at how the Harbour Action Areas can improve their role in attracting tourism and supporting a range of places that people want to spend time.
Specific ideas for the Local Planning brief are that it will:
- Encourage and celebrate smaller scale activities
- Encourage and support water-based activities in and around the harbours
- Safeguard marine industries and growth in this sector
- Relocate “bad neighbour” uses, such as fuel storage, to Longue Hougue
- Promote new visitor
- Safeguard land for port expansion, if needed
- Promote high quality development, should land become available
- Prioritise the safety and movement of pedestrians
- Create linked routes and facilities to encourage walking, active and sustainable travel
- Celebrate and respect the area’s heritage
- Ensure any new development strengthens the character of the HAAs
- Identify locations for leisure and cultural uses and activities
- Support arts and culture across the two HAAs
Development scenarios
To inform the LPB, five different development scenarios set out what could be achieved across both harbours if different choices are made around key land uses and activities, environmental protections and flood risk mitigation. The potential for change could be very different depending on key strategic decisions and harbour wide infrastructure (see flow diagram).
The five scenarios are:
- "No change” scenario
- Scenario A1: Short term change, port stays in St Peter Port
- Scenario A2: Long term change, port stays in St Peter Port
- Scenario B1: Short term change with new harbour
- Scenario B2: Long term change with new harbour
With a key focus of the Local Planning Brief being around attracting investment and improving the harbours for the benefit of all, it is important that we consider who these changes would benefit and any concerns they raise for local communities. There are also some interventions which are possible irrespective of timescales or a decision around the port operations (for example, decisions around car parking and the visitor economy).
Each scenario has been assessed against the five objectives for the Local Planning Brief and the scoring is set out at the base of the boards. Our feedback form asks if you agree with our initial assessment of each scenario and if you think there are key ideas missing across the scenarios as a whole.
