Politicians on the Planning Applications Committee overturned the department’s recommendation for refusal to give landowner Martin Jensen permission to build a six-bedroom house, a guest cottage, swimming pool, pool house, greenhouse and tennis court at Wolf’s Caves in St John.
The latest scheme, which Mr Jensen told the panel would be a long-lasting family home, is to be built in the style of a traditional 18th-century Jersey property and has been designed by Godel Architects.
Five years ago developers were given permission to build an ultra-modern house at the site, which lies in the heavily protected Coastal National Park, but it is the latest plans that are due to be taken forward.
Nobody objected to the new project in person at yesterday’s planning meeting, but the plans did attract both positive and negative comments from the National Trust for Jersey.
The organisation said it was pleased to see the development had been pulled back from the coast, but added that the additional cottages represented, in their view, ‘development spread’.
Islander Jeremy Harris repeated his concerns about the original project in writing to the Planning Department, saying that the mass and footprint of the new home should not exceed the original Wolf’s Caves building, which has been demolished, and that there was potentially going to be a loss of public parking under the plans.
Principal planner Andy Townsend explained that while there were many positive elements to the project, such as the landscaping of the car park at the site, the proposed house was bigger than the original building, meaning the scheme did not have support from the department.
Addressing the committee, Mr Jensen, who is from Hamburg, said that he and his family had fallen in love with Jersey.
He said: ‘Over the past five years I have come to enjoy Jersey so much that I purchased the property at Wolf’s Caves after acquiring housing qualifications here.
‘It is my desire to create a timeless home where my family will still be comfortable in 30 years’ time.
‘This would not be achievable with the current approved scheme.’
The committee – chairwoman Constable Juliette Gallichan, Constable Philip Le Sueur and Deputies Russell Labey and Jeremy Maçon – unanimously supported the plans.
At the same meeting an extension to one of the Island’s most desirable homes – La Coupe House in St Martin – was approved.
A single-storey wing is to be added to the luxury property, which was built and then sold by Ransoms Garden Centre director Sarah Ransom, after all four members of the committee approved the plans, which were also supported by the Planning Department.
Meanwhile residents of Les Ruisseaux Estate in St Brelade gathered to oppose plans to redevelop a home, Le Rocher Rouge, but failed to persuade the committee to reject the scheme.
Only Deputy Maçon voted against the plans to replace the existing five-bedroom house with a larger, more modern building.
THE politics of envy has no place in planning decisions. And yet the feeling that there is one law for the super-rich and one for everyone else is what fuels the vitriol which seems to erupt each time plans for another large luxury property are approved.
Planning Minister Steve Luce might be open to the needs of business and the economy in a way that upsets some environmentalists, but he is adamant that, once agreed, policy must be adhered to or changed according to due process.
He has, however, inherited some skeletons that have been lurking in his department’s closet for some years. During his time as Environment Minister, former Senator Freddie Cohen set about realising his vision of being in the vanguard of an architectural renaissance in Jersey.
Given the many soulless carbuncles built since the Occupation which punctuate the Island and especially its coastline, it is not hard to see why he was so moved to make a difference.
The trouble was that his views on architectural beauty and appropriate development were not always reconcilable with public opinion or planning policy.
Good intentions there may have been, but it looked to many as if he was happy to sacrifice our natural assets to appease the very well-off.
Today, plans to build or extend three more large properties have been passed by the Planning Applications Committee. These decisions must be judged on the impact of their environment and how they relate to the landscapes they sit in.
Good architecture sits harmoniously with its surrounds and a small house can be as incongruous and ugly as a mega mansion.
The important thing is that planning policy is applied fairly with all subject to the same rules and regulations.
The evidence makes clear that this has not always been the case. If ministers and others in authority want to stem the tide of dissatisfaction and its offspring, political apathy and distrust, they might start with ensuring Planning is a one-size-fits-all department. Even the perception that one group is being favoured over another will undermine efforts to re-energise democracy in Jersey.
