POLITICIANS have tried for years to find a loophole in the laws of supply and demand as they relate to property prices in Jersey.

It is not all that many years ago that prices were set by the government, or that state-subsidised home loans were being provided to those taking their first step on to the property ladder.

The current scheme – which requires developers to offer up a percentage of the properties that they build as discounted affordable homes – may well be the best one yet, but it can only go so far.

It is, as the head of the Association of Jersey Architects Mike Waddington has observed, a land tax. But it is a land tax that cuts out the middle-man of the States Treasury and applies itself directly to the problem by reducing developers’ profits to create cheaper homes.

Mr Waddington’s concern that 40% is too great a proporition of a site to expect developers to give up may well be correct. The position of expert knowledge from which he speaks at least demands a closer examination of the figures involved and, given the complexities and importance of the issue, perhaps a full States debate to decide the fairest balance between commercial reality and social aspiration.

Mr Waddington’s related call for the relaxation of heritage restrictions on the redevelopment of buildings in St Helier is less convincing. Protective listings may be irksome for developers but they have been hard won and, bitter experience suggests, are all that stands between us and the kind of licensed vandalism which allowed developers to lay waste to Britain’s urban heritage, including Jersey’s, in the 60s and 70s.

But one does not have to look too far – the few miles of water between here and France will do – to see that it is entirely possible to retain the frontages of buildings through the generations while redeveloping them internally to adapt for different uses and needs, with obvious benefits for the quality of life in French towns and villages.

This is something that has often eluded those responsible for planning and development in Jersey, and it is to be hoped that the new Island Plan, now nearing the end of its consultation period, will help them get closer to it.