First social housing in rural area ready in year
Tuesday 24th January 2012, 2:29PM GMT.
An artist’s impression of the bird’s-eye view of the island’s first social housing project to be built in the rural area, close to the States estate at Rue Jehannet, St Martin’s.
BUILDING 24 new social housing apartments in St Martin’s will allow older people who are currently taking up family-sized States houses to move to more suitable accommodation, the Guernsey Housing Association chief executive has said.
Construction work began yesterday on Clos Barbier, off Rue Jehannet, after the GHA signed a £4m. building contract with R. G. Falla.
It is the first site to be developed under a planning law policy which supports new social housing in the rural area as long as it is next to existing social housing.
GHA chief executive Steve Williams said it had taken three years of planning to produce a design that would meet the needs of older people living in St Martin’s.
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A derelict vinery site put to good use
Are there stirrings of a belief amongst our backward looking leaders that the 1950′s heyday of tomato and flower exports are well and truly over?
I was driving along Braye Road at a steady 4mph the other day (with a dozen other vehicles behind a cyclist)when I had ample time to gaze at the lawnmower centre .. another excellent use of unwanted/unviable glasshouses
Then I remembered the proposed data park as an ex vinery site and quite a few private clos have replaced former ugly derelict glass over the years
What I couldn’t remember are the rules that oblige Environment to say Yes to some change of use applications and No to others
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They just look so drab.
Some areas such as half way have very poor property stock, we need a decent plan for imaginative scale regeneration/development.
Can we not tear down property black spots and increase quality of housing and density before taking the easy option of builing on greenfield sites.
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blokeinlondon
The States are already doing that on some of the older housing estates but can it be done with privately owned housing stock?
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The States have got to develop, human rights compliant, mechanisms to regenerate areas of poor housing stock before going onto green fields.
We’ll just end up with urban sprawl and micro plots until some someone decides to enact some sort of property equivalent of the agricultural revolution and General Enclosure Act of 1801.
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don’t worry, Ray, it’s on the way (hey, that rhymes) :)…
‘It is the first site to be developed under a planning law policy which supports new social housing in the rural area as long as it is next to existing social housing’….
and the next will be those two fields commandeered by PSD for Lagan to create their enormous silos on, which will undoubtedly NOT be ‘returned to green fields’ (and some of the best growing soil in the island) as promised after two years, but turned into an extension of the existing Mont Marche estate, which they are located so conveniently directly next to.
Our Housing minister must be absolutely THRILLED about this kismet occurrence, as he can now become the people’s hero by starting to use the apparently infinite flexibility in the rural area plan (pollutant creating silos and a 150 strong ‘village’ in green fields being prime examples) to slowly turn our island into one massive housing estate, where everyone is entitled to social housing, as they can’t afford to buy in the private sector…
ironically, thanks to the same group of ‘leaders’ that he’s part of, who’ve created a ridiculous and entirely unsustainable, over inflated economy and crippled us all with more and more taxes so they can p*ss our hard earned cash up the wall on vanity projects and making sure they chose the most expensive option with any given project.
All that said, I’m very upbeat about this, Ray, because if Environment and Housing continue as they are, making our beautiful island a bizarre combination of millionaires pads built all over any available beauty spots and social housing everywhere else, it will become a very unattractive place to live, and therefore a lot quieter…
and then, you won’t have all those bloney traffic problems to deal with Ray, because you and I (plus a few others) will be the only b*ggers left here ;)))))
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You misunderstand Scarlett, the old way to want your own your own home was old fashioned, now thanks to our illustrious leaders if you are lucky you can own a bit of a house. This demonstrates the principal of the “Trickledown” of wealth from finance. Unfortunatly its utter rubbish and all it demonstrates is the gullability of our politicians and their contempt for us for not buying the lies.
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ahhh, gotcha, Zab :)
can they choose which ‘bit’ they don’t own, I wonder?
The only thing that’s trickling down is a load of ol’ bouvang, still, I guess it’s easier than addressing the real elephants in the room.
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I am pleased to see more social housing being built and, by the way, not just in Town or the North.
I could be wrong but my experience leads me to believe that there are quite a few hardworking families who are struggling to meet private sector rents.
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What a magnificent way to revive that old song
;LITLE BOXES LITTLE BOXES; Little boxes … and they all look the same.
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Some of the aesthetic look of this development has been sacrificed because of the need to have the eco parts of the development; the solar panels which govern the angle and style of the roofs for instance are greater than would have been ideal. As for Partial ownership, the GHA have managed do 88 of these PO deals, with many more in the pipeline, which is a great deal more than would have been available under the old states loans scheme. It is a great deal for people and instead of just paying rent for years you eventually get up to 80% equity out of this scheme which will give you enough money to be able to obtain a mortgage outright on your own home.
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Its still a bit of a house, are you real?
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