A CAMPSITE in St Ouen had one application unanimously rejected and another unanimously supported at a meeting of the Planning Committee yesterday.
The Palms, off Route de Vinchelez, applied to change the use of a two-bedroom staff apartment – which it does not need – to residential.
The application was opposed by the Planning Department because the site would be ‘an unsustainable location for the creation of a new dwelling, and there is no overriding reason to justify the proposed change of use’.
Campsite owner Janie Pinglaux addressed the committee, saying that the site used to have 60 pre-erected family house tents before she and her husband bought it four years ago.
They had since reduced this to 30 pitches which she and her family managed, which is why extra staff were no longer needed. She argued that there was a shortage of housing in Jersey and this was a ready-to-use unit, which would also generate revenue to reinvest back into the campsite.
However, members of the Planning Committee agreed with the Planning Officer’s recommendation, adding that it would be wrong to permanently detach the unit from the campsite. Several members, including Constables Philip Le Sueur (chair) and Marcus Troy, suggested that the dwelling would be better used as a self-catered holiday let.
Despite the rejection, Mrs Pinglaux thanked the committee for their input and said it had given her lots of ideas.
There was better news for the campsite moments later, when the committee supported an application to build five wooden moveable ‘pods’ along the southern perimeter of the site.
This time, the group of politicians went against the recommendation of the Planning Officer in backing the application. Members argued that it would be a great boost for tourism and would not cause unacceptable harm to the landscape.
Each pod will be available between April and October and have an electric-bike charging point. They will be built in a wood-and-tile style, and each made out of – among other things – 4,500 plastic bottles.
