ONE of the most significant Billet items to come before the States in years has attracted relatively little interest since its publication six weeks ago.

The report, by the Strategic Land Planning Group, is a major step in setting out how the island will look for decades to come.

While the debate will not nail anything firmly into place, deputies have the opportunity this week to indicate a direction for planners and developers to follow for generations.

Depending on where people live – and on which rung of the housing ladder – that direction will be crucial to their quality of life.

In broad terms there are three options. One, put new homes and businesses in Town and St Sampson’s; two, develop mini-villages across the island; three, treat Guernsey as one entity where development is just as likely in one parish as another.

It is a fascinating choice that seeks to take the island beyond the failed concept of Detailed Development Plans and Urban and Rural Area plans to an updated land use strategy for the next quarter-century.

While the planning group insists that it is looking to prompt debate it has no hesitation in pushing deputies towards option two.

This would entail increased development outside of the Eastern corridor and into various village centres. Certainly this would mean St Martin’s, St Peter’s and Cobo villages, perhaps even L’Islet, L’Aumone, Camp du Roi.

But what about Longfrie, Jerbourg, Le Bourgs? All are centres of a sort.

There are already those who would disagree with the report’s conclusion that the island has ‘successfully limited suburban sprawl’ and be alarmed at the prospect of increased development in country parishes.

There are others in the Town-Bridge corridor who would welcome a break from being the island’s sole development bank.

And it would be good to see someone in the States asking: do we really want or need to build 1,700 homes over the next five years?

For the report deals only with how to cope with more development. It says nothing about combating the need for those homes in the first place.