The Rice family first applied to Planning in the 1980s, but it was not until December 2015 that they received planning permission to restore Egypt Farm.
However, since then they have been waiting for Planning to produce the last document – a planning obligation agreement (POA) – to allow them to proceed.
Architectural and heritage consultant Antony Gibb, who is acting for the family in their dealings with the department, said work to rebuild the property on Trinity’s north coast cannot begin until the agreement is signed by the Planning Committee.
He said: ‘Fundamentally, the POA is an agreement between the owners and Planning that only one house will be built on the site, and it also establishes other rules for the development such as environmental benefits.’
Last week the Planning Committee approved the agreement, but it cannot be officially signed off until their next meeting in July.
Egypt Farm, to the east of Les Platons, was requisitioned by the Germans in 1943, along with two neighbouring properties, for military training. It was later used for target practice by nearby gun batteries which destroyed much of the fabric of the 19th-century farm complex which comprised two houses and outbuildings.
The Rice family intended to rebuild after the Island’s Liberation and continued to pay parish rates, even when they moved to South Africa.
Their plans were thwarted when the African State introduced strict foreign exchange controls, leaving the family unable to export enough money to fund reconstruction. Once those controls were lifted in 1983 they resumed their plan.
After several failed attempts to secure planning permission, approval for two homes was granted in 2014.
However, the then Environment Minister Rob Duhamel overruled that decision and insisted on a cap of one unit at the site due to the area’s sensitive location in the Jersey National Park. The revised plans for a three-bedroom house to replicate the original granite farmhouse were approved 18 months ago.
