ONE of the largely unremarked issues surrounding the current debate about the future use of the former Guernsey Brewery site is the depth of planning effort that has gone into triggering that discussion.

It has been sparked by Environment’s planning department’s release of a draft development brief and islanders who read the document will be surprised by the level of detail that it contains.

While it is easy to criticise the planning process – and this newspaper will do so when matters like ‘eyesore architecture’ come to the fore – the development brief is, to the lay reader at least, a particularly helpful framework.

While people instinctively know that there are some valuable elements of the existing buildings and that the area in which they sit is important, Environment explains clearly why that is and what responsibility that places on any would-be developer.

The features of the site dictate a development of the highest standard if the requirements of the Urban Area Plan for a ‘positive contribution’ to the townscape of St Peter Port are to be satisfied.

The intention of the brief is to guide any development application down the right path and it is quite forthright in its message: don’t think you can keep a tatty car park outside the brewery. The language is different – ‘the wide tarmac forecourt represents opportunity for environmental and landscape improvement’ – but the intent is clear.

Anyone wanting to do anything with this site, which also includes green fields to the rear, is going to have to create something which islanders will look at and acknowledge as an improvement to what’s there now.

But while the brief is prescriptive, islanders might consider that it does not go far enough.

This important site could be used for a wide range of purposes, including hotel, cinema or retail complex, but the likelihood is that it will become posh new homes, possibly with some new open market penthouses.

The reason is that’s where the fastest buck is to be made and the brief will ensure that whatever apartments do go up are of the highest quality.

Yet it’s difficult to shake off the feeling that there’s something better for Guernsey that could be built there.