Make planning better

Saturday 26th April 2008, 9:52AM BST.

GUERNSEY’S planning process will cripple the economy if government does not act on an independent inquiry commissioned by the Policy Council, it was claimed.

Businessman Peter Kaufman Kent (pictured), the man behind plans to build a Royal Channel Island’s Yacht Club on the Crown Pier, States-owned land has given full backing to the review of Guernsey’s planning service.

He said the business sector should not be relied upon for the island’s future prosperity. Mr Kaufman Kent, managing director of Guernsey-based Ironbridge Estates, said the new House would be wise to follow consultant Chris Shepley’s recommendations to separate the planning role of the Environment Department and create a new planning department with its own minister.