This Is Jersey

By Jo Hutchison

ENVIRONMENT Minister Freddie Cohen has rejected two of the most contentious findings in the committee of inquiry’s report into Dandara’s Goose Green La Providence site.

He rejects the idea that flooding issues were underplayed by the Planning Department and says that potential noise disturbance was addressed by the former Planning sub-committee. Earlier in the year, the committee of inquiry, chaired by Carol Canavan, found that the process of rezoning the Bel Royal site into housing was ‘less than efficient’ and said that the Planning department ‘underplayed’ the potential flooding issues.

The committee also found that Environmental Health failed to advise Planning about potential noise disturbance from Jersey Steel and said that the issue was not given any further consideration by Planning after an initial ‘no comment’ response. The panel concluded that the site should never have been rezoned for housing, the lengthy Planning process was unacceptable and that public opposition was not listened to.

Senator Cohen lodged his response to the findings last week. Although the minister agrees with the majority of the findings and concurs with many of the recommendations, he has rejected some of the criticism. ‘I cannot accept that the potential flooding issues have been underplayed at any stage in the planning and application process,’ he said. 

Article posted on 29th November, 2008 - 9.56am