THE Housing minister can’t wait to demolish the Bouet.

Speaking yesterday as the last two houses on the former Mont Arrive Estate were torn down, Deputy Dave Jones said he was looking forward to seeing the nearby site go the same way.

‘I cannot wait until the Bouet is razed to the ground,’ he said.

‘It is a series of barracks, in my opinion, that should have been torn down 25 years ago.

‘It served the island well at the time. It was built quickly to accommodate a large number of people.

‘I don’t believe we should be building large estates. Social problems have been associated with building estates that are too big.

‘We need to build estates that are communities rather than just massive sites for housing lots of people.’

Deputy Jones yesterday helped to get rid of the last two houses at Mont Arrive by pulling them down with a digger.

The Guernsey Housing Association is to replace them with 15 bungalows for the elderly, thus releasing larger homes for families.

The properties at Mont Arrive were more than 65 years old.

‘I’m very excited about this,’ said Deputy Jones.

‘Housing has owned the site since the mid-1930s. The houses are well past their sell-by date.

‘It is going to make a difference to put 15 smaller units in to address the occupation issue of family housing.’

Everything torn down at Mont Arrive will, as far as possible, be reused in the new build, on which it is hoped work will start in September.