Constable leads protest against homes plan
Tuesday 29th September 2009, 2:58PM BST.
The Constable of St Clement, Len Norman, has written to Environment about the plans for the site
ALL three States Members in St Clement are campaigning against plans to build houses at Samarès Nursery.
The Constable, Len Norman, says that the parish is already ‘overburdened’ and that the houses are not necessary. He was responding to proposals in the draft Island Plan which proposes building between 200 and 250 houses across seven parishes.
He is supported by St Clement Deputies Ian Gorst and Anne Dupré, who are also fighting against further development.
The Constable, who said that at a parish assembly in 2005 parishioners were against the proposal for housing on the site, has written to Environment Minister Freddie Cohen asking him to take Samarès Nursery off the list of sites to be rezoned for housing.
In his letter, he says: ‘I write to formally request you to remove Samarès Nursery from the list of category A housing sites on the grounds that it is not necessary and overburdens a parish which has already contributed more than its fair share of housing provision for the Jersey population.’
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The NIMBY’s are at it again, build affordable housing but not in my back yard.
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Why not make it compulsory for every parish to have a Le Squez, housing problems solved – but as iv’e said before, HOW can the environment minister and the planning minister be one and the same, that’s why we are in the brown smelly stuff up to our necks!!!
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so young people of jersey you will not get affordable housing ( whatever that is supposed to be), from these three people , they stand in the way of your quality of live life and your future children.
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I know, let them buid affordable housing at Pleimont, its already zoned for building on!
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David brown (3)
quality of life for future children has nothing to do with housing.
Yesterday the UK met office put out the latest climate predictions (up to 4 degrees C warmer by 2060), this would see lots of St Helier and St Clement under water on high tides, wars, food shortages etc, and your talking about lack of cheap affordable housing as a problem.
We need to protect the island against the problems of climate change by producing our own energy and food which required a smaller population so we have enough land to feed ourselves, this in turn will reduce the demand for housing.
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Private housing will never be comfortably affordable in Jerwey. It will remain a luxury afforded to the born wealthy and the hardworking lower class.
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St Clement is already over built. It is not a question not in my back yard. I do not see many developments at St Lawrence!
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Why can the parish not emabrace this opportunity to use this land to the best effect. He have countless young people who have no hope in hell in affording a house even young well paid professionals who are struggling to afford to buy. This generation needs this type of housing and this site could also house a wider range of demographic whilst providing landscaped surroundings and pleasant gardens. We need housing, just done right. The area now is a green house site which, if done correctly, could be an attractive development. If people could just have a bit of foresight and see this area will be built on, let’s chose to have an input as a parish as to how this is done and make the best of the situation. People need to wake up – use this opportunity to our advantage!
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David #3, it won’t BE affordable!
Whatever makes people believe that any new build is going to be affordable. A ‘first-time buyer’ property in Jersey is currently around £450,000! I wonder what mortgages these people can get? And not all ‘first-time buyers’ are necessarily buying their first house, they simply meet the written criteria for a ‘first-time buyer’. The States want the (relatively) poor people to either shut up or leave, they don’t care as long as they are not bothered by them.
What is clear is that building needs to go on somewhere OTHER than St Helier, if it goes on at all. Also, we should not be building more until we are sure that current builds are going to be occupied. Nor should we build more until we have looked thoroughly at the quality of life people in these below-standard new-builds have.
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We are a small island with reclaimed land. We are highly susceptible to any changes in the climate and sea levels in particular.
It’s a fight between us and nature and nature will win!
Only the States (and maybe the finance industry) could possibly be arrogant enough to think otherwise.
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I feel that Constable Len Norman and Deputies Ian Gorst and Anne Dupré should be congratulated for actually listening to the people that elected them.
The parish of St Clement is the smallest parish in the Island (by far), yet the population density is second only to that of St Helier. Much development has already taken place in the parish as it is. Time the other parishes stepped up to the mark!
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Ditto Tess – St clements already is a overdeveloped parish, it is time for the other parishes to ‘step up’.
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If Jersey wishes to expand the population, at the expense of our quality of life and a substantial reduction in our countryside then we must look to build large, top quality, high rise apartment developments, therefore maximising the land available, so that we develop small pockets of land, rather than having large land intensive houses built which have a low ratio of people per hectare. Another option is to slow/stop building of all homes and apartments, this will then force the population to be controlled to some extent, as builders and those who cannot afford homes are forced to leave the island. This in itself will help to ease the demand for homes. Support should be given to essentially qualified persons such as teachers/nurses/doctors, but this should be strictly enforced and means tested on family income circumstances, and could be reassessed over the mortgage period. People must realise that it is not a right to buy a house whether in your homeland or anywhere, but something that comes from working hard, saving and taking opportunities as they present themselves. People cannot always be looking for govt/tax payer support, sometimes people must realise that their best option is to move, and that might be to the UK or somewhere else. I support the St Clement representatives in their stance for a number of reasons. I am still convinced that the best way to stop the over development of the entire island is to create small pockets of high rise apartments, built to boost substantially the States of Jersey’s coffers. People must accept that apartment living and not house dwelling is the only sustainable way for Jersey to continue its population growth. Look at Hong Kong, Singapore as an example of how they have developed their economy and population, most citizens now enjoy a lift ride as part of their daily routine. Cohen again is in conflict with his two roles. He is clearly trying to be a legacy man, and promote himself, rather than looking to the longer term prospects for the creaking island.
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St.Clement has been hammered over this last 40 years it is now a satelite of St.Helier. It has done more than its far share towards housing.
However it will come to the point when further development will be undesirable in Jersey. Too many people in too small an area will only lead to major problems.
Leah you make valid points about environmental issues. A tsunami for example would wipe out most of Jersey as would rising sea levels.
Most people are in denial over environmental issues preferring to have their cake and eat it rather than alter their life style to help protect the planet. Selfish and greed comes top nowadays.
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annie du feu(5)
2060, the possible future, young people have gone , as things became totaly un affordable .
only the rich and those tax exiles remained , with a service industry to suit their needs .
offices were now to be run by a hand full of staff, as all jersy banking was totaly elecronic, just rows and rows of server racks doing the job that was at one time done by 6500 office staff.
all those who work in the service industry live in rented accomadation. (jersey 2060)
tess(7)any parish that does not have social rented housing, should play its part and get some.
wake up (8)yes.
leah(9) i live in hope, and will not be leaving
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Probably the limiting factor in Jersey for population is water.
We are using almost the surface water now and large scale boreholes would risk incursion from the sea and salinity problems.
The idea of an underground ‘river’ flowing from France is pie in the sky.
Importing it via either tanker or pipeline from France would be horribly expensive and desalination is not cheap either.
If one allows for the chance that the island may get drier as a result of climate change then we may see water rationing within a few decades even without Terry le Sueur’s extra people.
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I guess most of thouse who oppose this development have their own homes and it is a case of ‘ I am alright, Jack’
Corrct me if I am wrong, but the general concensus these days seems to be to make life difficult for the next generation through high housing costs and significant environmental taxes, while the lucky ones sit back and expect the working generation who are living in flats and bed sits to look after us.
Surely this will lead to resentment !!!
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#15, good luck to you David
#17, my partner has his own flat although it’s not even big enough for one person to actually make it a home. As it is we need a house. I lived in a flat in Glasgow quite happily, but flats of the build quality (and subject to the legislation) found in Jersey have proven to be bad for our health. Too many flats in our block are owned by businesses, ‘given’ to their staff, and their staff simply do not care how their behaviour affects those around them. Management properties do not bother to enforce rental agreements or ensure that people meet the behaviour required of them, as long as they get their monthly payments.
More flats really requires far better build quality, much tougher ‘breach of the peace’ laws, and far more enforcement of those laws. The ‘nuisance neighbour’ diaries are a joke, some behaviours are straight out against the law and should be punished as such.
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St Clements is full, as is most of the east.
NIMBY?
Are you joking?
When was the last time you had a good look around the parish Keith?
Take a walk down Le Hocq lane? Raped. Jambart Lane? Raped. Samares lane…getting there. Every field in this little parish is getting hammered.
I live in St Saviour so not even a vested interest for me. But the we are full too and our elected officials are not standing up like St Clements.
Go west planners, go west.
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Have you not noticed something, It seems that the price of housing also rules the economy! look at the uk, american and jersey media and you will see on most of the headlines over the past few months, The economy is nearly over, housing prices are on the way back up. Why is the economy marked up on houses? is it because of the ammount people are charged, 1,for the paper work, 2,for legal fees, 3,for tax, and the big one 4,the mortgage. The States want house prices kept as high as possible because of the money that changes hands, so don’t hold your breath for cheap housing, in Jersey this will never happen.
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