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Introduction

Tibbalds Planning and Urban Design is leading the project team appointed to create a Local Planning Brief (LPB) for the St Peter Port and St Sampson Harbour Action Areas (HAA). This strategic policy document will identify opportunities for change and enhancement of these two important areas along Guernsey’s east coast and will guide and shape development over the next 10-20 years.

The project team includes harbour specialists, transport consultants, engineers, property advisors, planners and urban designers. Over the last six months the team have been making sure we have a good understanding of what happens in the two harbours, how they work and identifying opportunities for change that best support the island as a whole, its people, environment and economy.

This consultation is taking place before the Local Planning Brief is written in order to test out and review emerging ideas for the future and to get your feedback on the priorities for the Local Planning Brief.

The aim of this public consultation is to gather your views and feedback on initial development themes and development scenarios. Both of the Harbour Action Areas are complex and support a wide range of activities and uses and so change will need to be carefully thought out and coordinated.

We welcome your feedback on these initial proposals and we hope you will fill in our questionnaire.

Return to the 'About the proposals' page

What can you do today?

These pages set out key information about the emerging direction of the Local Planning Brief and summarises the work undertaken by the team so far.

At this stage we want to test initial ideas and principles with stakeholders and the wider community and to talk you thorough what we think needs to be included in the Local Planning Brief for the two Harbour Action Areas.

This engagement is about gathering feedback on this work so far, hearing any concerns or other opportunities you can help us identify and then using this feedback to shape the draft Local Planning Brief.

We would like you to:

  • Read the consultation information on this website
  • Read any FAQs on the website.
  • Fill in our feedback form.

The closing date for responses is: 12th April 2024.

What is a Local Planning Brief?

A Local Planning Brief (LPB) is a type of planning policy document that is required by the Island Development Plan (IDP 2016). It will make policies and proposals for a specific area where there are strategic land use implications and wider issues to be resolved.

A LPB is required for the two Harbour Action Areas and details are set out in Annex III of the IDP.

The Harbour Action Areas LPB will be a tool to help manage development and change in a positive way. It will sit alongside the IDP and will be part of the planning process.

What will the Local Planning Brief look like and what will it be used for?

The LPB will be a document that covers the full extent of the two Harbour Action Areas of St Peter Port and St Sampson. It will be based on evidence about how the areas work and what may change and contain a vision for the future of the two harbours. It will contain policies, principles and proposals along with a proposals map.

It is important that the LPB is complementary to the IDP and adds detail where it is helpful in making sure the right kind of development comes forward and the right issues are considered. It won’t be able to conflict with or change any of the policies in the IDP.

Once it has been adopted (see timeline below) it will be used to guide planning decisions within the Harbour Action Areas and will be a material consideration in how decisions are made. This means that proposals brought forward in accordance with the requirements of the LPB are more likely to be supported, subject to it also meeting other policies and guidance.

What does the Island Development Plan say that the Local Planning Brief must cover?

The IDP requires that the Harbour Action Areas LPB must set out a strategy for the St Peter Port HAA and the St Sampson HAA. Both areas are defined on the IDP Proposals Map (see plan top right).

The IDP sets out that the Local Planning Brief must consider:

  • The need for coordinated planning, so that different activities and uses work together
  • How best to propose mixed use development, that includes employment, housing and other uses
  • Going beyond purely functional matters
  • Change that will attract inward investment
  • Social, economic and environmental issues
  • The need for commercial expansion within the two towns and harbours
  • Historic setting
  • The future needs of a modern port that serves the island well
  • Reducing traffic and addressing conflict between different road users and pedestrians
  • How best to safeguard marine related
  • How best to address the risk of flooding into the future

Timeline for adoption of the Harbour Action Areas Local Planning Brief

Timeline for adoption of the Harbour Action Areas Local Planning Brief

The Location of the two Harbour Action Areas

The location of the Harbour Action Areas

Key issue: The Five Main Objectives for the Local Planning Brief

The Harbour Action Areas Local Planning Brief must respond directly to five main development objectives. These are:

  1. Provide infrastructure that protects Guernsey’s coast and harbours from current and future environmental threats.
  2. Provide transport infrastructure which improves transport connectivity and choice to, within and between the main centres.
  3. Provide infrastructure to develop modern and resilient harbours (taking into account Guernsey’s future harbour requirements, both in terms of operational requirements and the wider redevelopment of the east coast) which create opportunities to provide improved social, economic and environmental infrastructure.
  4. Provide infrastructure that supports Guernsey’s housing requirements.
  5. Provide infrastructure that supports existing business activity and creates new economic opportunities.

Together this means addressing climate change; making places for all; being consistent with the States’ priorities and policies; and considering the health and wellbeing of all those on the island.

Key issue: The potential relocation of the port to Longue Hougue

When the harbours at St Peter Port and St Sampson were built in the 1800s, no-one could have imagined how different the world would be today. Yet for generations, they have provided an essential link to the outside world, constantly evolving to meet the island’s changing needs.

Over the past five years the States of Guernsey have been looking at a number of ways to better serve the island’s needs for passengers and freight in a way that works well for the long term sustainability of the island.

In 2021 the States debated proposals for the relocation of the main port activities to a new harbour at Longue Hougue. Whilst a decision has not yet been made about whether a project such as this will be delivered, the Local Planning Brief is required to consider what could happen if such a project were to go ahead and the impact this may have on the harbours and their potential to support the people, environment and economy of Guernsey as a whole.

The Local Planning Brief is required to consider two different scenarios for the Harbour Action Areas on the basis that either could happen in the future.

SCENARIO A - that no new harbour is constructed and that the port operations, freight and passenger facilities remain broadly where they are now in St Peter Port at the end of North Beach.

SCENARIO B - that a new harbour is constructed, possibly at Longue Hougue, and that all freight and some or all of the passenger services are relocated to it.

Some parts of the Local Planning Brief may be the same under either scenario but others will be very different and that is one of the things that we have been exploring over the past few months.

Further information about the Future Harbours project can be found on the States of Guernsey website.

Return to the 'About the proposals' page