THE Policy Council will next week to discuss setting up the informal inquiry into Factorygate. It will examine how the Island Development Committee came to grant in-principle planning permission for a herb-processing venture at the Sandpiper Vinery despite land-use policies stipulating that the site was to be used only for horticultural and agricultural purposes.

‘The Bailiff is involved in this because we asked him to appoint someone to conduct the inquiry,’ said Chief Minister Laurie Morgan.

‘We have a very recent letter from him to consider at the next meeting.’

Deputy Morgan said he was aware that Zouche Group had last week submitted revised plans to the Environment Department for a hydroponics venture at the site but added that this was nothing to do with the Policy Council.

‘It’s between the applicant and the Environment Department.’

He declined to comment on the terms of reference of the inquiry, or whether the application would be considered by the same staff as the previous one.

‘I can’t say anything about that at the moment; it is anticipating what we will discuss, which I wouldn’t want to do.’

Dave Barrett, the former deputy who lives next door to Sandpiper and whose case successfully overturned the IDC’s in-principle decision in the Court of Appeal, said that there was even less detail in Zouche’s revised plan than the original.

‘The bit that bothers me is that there’s no detail of what they intend to do in that building,’ he said.

‘There’s considerably less information on that than there was on the application [on which] they granted the preliminary declaration. I can’t make a representation because I don’t know what they are proposing.

‘If it is genuinely horticultural, I might be in favour of it.’

He said he had confidence in the Environment Department to judge the application fairly.

‘Unless it is proved otherwise, I have to.’