CONSTRUCTION costs spiralling into double-digit inflation, contractors collapsing and interest rates rocketing have meant fewer than a sixth of planning applications approved so far this year have actually started.
Environment Minister Steve Luce said it was a “problem” that only 108 of 644 approvals had reached “commencement” in 2024 when he addressed States Members at the latest sitting of the Assembly.
And Brian McCarthy, managing director of Le Masurier, has told the JEP that the developer’s £120 million project to build apartments and tourist accommodation in Broad Street, which gained planning permission in December – nearly two years after the application was lodged – will not be ready to start building until at least the end of this year.
StayCity would have opened its doors to tourists now, he added, if approval had been given within the 13-week time-frame.
This comes after the firm said in November that it was “reflecting” on the future and viability of the project.
Meanwhile, Mitchell Building Contractors has become the latest contractor to go under in yet another blow to the Island’s construction industry. Managing director Harvey Mitchell cited “spiralling costs” and a “broken planning system” as factors behind the decision to cease trading last week.
Deputy Steve Luce praised the Planning Department when given the opportunity thanks to his predecessor Deputy Jonathan Renouf’s oral question. He said wait times had been cut, customer service improved, and efficiency boosted, leading to a 30% reduction in pending applications and the average time to validate new applications falling from ten weeks to two weeks.
However, Deputy Renouf pointed out that there were low numbers of approved applications reaching the “commencement” stage.
“Is he doing anything to deal with planning permissions that are given but not built?” he said.
Deputy Luce said it was a “problem” that he “tried to grapple with” when he was previously Planning Minister.
In 2015, he made changes to planning rules to deter “speculative development” after firms were having plans approved but then leaving sites dormant for years.
He continued: “It’s still a problem, and the changes I made back then don’t seem to have made much of an improvement.
“The cost of construction is all having an effect, and from the number of applications approved, I would desperately like to see more getting built out.”
However, he added that it was “difficult” as a government to “force people to build once applications are approved”.
Mr McCarthy echoed these difficulties in a statement sent to the JEP which also provided an update on the Les Sablons development.
The firm gained planning permission in December to redevelop two acres of town into 238 apartments, a 103-room apart-hotel, restaurants, shops and a walkway linking Broad Street and Commercial Street. However, no spades have so far broken ground.
The planning application was first submitted in March 2022 and Le Masurier is still progressing with the discharge of pre-commencement planning conditions which Mr McCarthy said “will hopefully be achieved by the end of 2024”.
Planning conditions can include the developers being able to provide or confirm details of the construction timeframe, materials and parking.
Mr McCarthy added: “It will have taken well over two-and-a-half years to work through the planning process and in that time period the economy has significantly changed.
“Construction costs have spiralled into double-digit inflation, there is no real competition within Jersey’s construction industry given the collapse of several contractors, interest rates are at a generational high and house prices have stagnated, and in some cases are falling.
“If Les Sablons had been positively determined within the Planning Department’s stated target timeframe of a 13-week determination period, then we would be well under construction by now, and StayCity would have opened its doors to tourist visitors.”
