From Christopher Scholefield.
TWENTY-five years ago the Prince of Wales, in his famous ‘monstrous carbuncle’ speech, castigated Britain’s architects and planners for the dismal appearance of Britain’s towns and cities. Sometimes the land owners take liberties too.

Consider for example de Gruchy’s application to redesign the profile of New Street with a seven-floor development, as reported in the JEP on 5 May.

There has been much new development in New Street, but the new buildings have the grace and manners to fit in with their neighbours, which are at most four floors high.

We are told that ‘it is essential … that the first floor trades to its full potential’ but if de Gruchy fills it with attractive goods at the right price it should do just that, without the need to mess up the existing streetscape.

Clearly this over development would help to raise some welcome money, and very nice that would be too, but I hope our planners will point out that de Gruchy’s neighbours might also have made a killing if they also had built too high. Fond of it as I am, I see no reason why de Gruchy’s should be treated as a special case.

The final insult was in the suggestion that this scheme would help to ‘regenerate the area’. New Street already has plenty of handsome buildings and interesting shops. The only degenerate area is the one de Gruchy has left to decay for decades.

In summary, this application brushes aside a streetscape that has evolved in harmony over the years because, after years of neglect, de Gruchy now wants to exploit its premises more ruthlessly than its neighbours.

If the Island Plan can’t be mobilised to nip this one in the bud you have to wonder whether it’s fit for purpose.
Saint Lô,
Gorey Common,
Grouville.