Motorhome owners Steven and Margaret Traynor want to provide facilities for nine vehicles in the garden of their home, Les Talus, which is located below Mont Les Vaux.
The house and surrounding area is in the green zone, where there is a presumption against new development, and the Tourist Destination Zone of Jersey’s planning blueprint, the Island Plan.
However, writing in the application’s planning statement, Mr and Mrs Traynor say there is not ‘an absolute moratorium against development, the key test being the capacity of the site, and its context to accommodate development without serious harm to the landscape character’.
The couple have been successful in the past in obtaining temporary planning approval to allow motorhomes at their property. On three occasions in 2007 and 2008, 12 vehicles from the UK were permitted to park there for two weeks at a time.
They are now applying for a permanent year-round facility, with connections to water, power and mains sewers. They also propose to plant trees and landscape the garden to obscure the vehicles from view.
At present mobile homes in Jersey are restricted to two registered campsites and a small site in St Peter, as Island legislation bans sleeping in any make of vehicle on public and private land and in public car parks. However, this has not prevented an unofficial mobile camp being set up at Le Port in St Ouen’s Bay, although the parish of St Peter wants to clamp down on its size, rather than implementing a complete ban.
‘The number of visiting and local motorhomes is increasing, but for five months of the year there is nowhere for families to stay, as all other locations close for this period apart from one, which is for adults only and provides only five spaces,’ Mr Traynor said.
‘The proposal will provide tourism accommodation not presently available and accommodation for locals also to stay.’
The application has the support of the new Economic Development, Tourism, Sport and Culture Department.
‘It is important that the Island is able to offer a full range of accommodation options that meets the needs and expectations of the visitor and to fill demand at all times of the year,’ the department says in a letter sent to the Planning Department.
‘Figures show that the Island has seen a steady increase in motorhomes arrivals over recent years. This increase has led to requests for additional motorhome parking at existing registered campsites and the inclusion of a similar operation in St Peter.’
A planning application was lodged last month to double the size of the existing registered motorhomes site in the valley to the west of Beaumont Hill from five to ten spaces.
