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There’s no going back at Portelet – but we can stop building on Field 528
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From Ian Ronayne.
YOUR paper’s recent focus on the new development at Portelet, and people’s response to it, made compelling reading.
The heartfelt and emotive nature of some the published letters and emails showed just how deeply people feel about this exploitation of one of the Island’s most picturesque bays. If nothing else, the consensus seems to be that allowing this development to go ahead was a mistake.
In mitigation, one of the defences put forward by the Environment Minister is that permission to build had already been given, and therefore it was about trying to minimise the impact by working with the developers to come up with the best possible design. Whatever your readers’ opinions on the final result, one thing appears to be for sure – once permission is given there is no going back. It then often just becomes a matter of damage limitation.
I believe we should heed this lesson for the future. While perhaps not in the same league as Portelet Bay, Field 528 opposite St Saviour’s School is under threat of development. There has been no planning application yet to build on this lovely open space, or permissions granted, but the process is in motion – albeit behind closed doors. Given past precedents, however, once momentum for development is built up, there seems to be no stopping it, so now is the time to oppose before it becomes just another matter of damage limitation.
And like Portelet, this should not just be a matter of concern for local residents, but something for everyone in Jersey to resist if they feel another mistake is about to be made. The parishioners of St Saviour have taken the unorthodox step of demanding a Parish Assembly to voice their opposition to the development of Field 528 and to ask for the support of their elected representatives.
It takes place at 7.30 pm on Tuesday 3 May at St Saviour’s Parish Hall. It seems a great opportunity for everyone opposed to inappropriate development in our Island to stand together in an effort to stop history repeating itself.
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