THE government may develop a policy to buy land using powers of compulsory purchase if too many sites earmarked for housing are rejected in a landmark States debate next month, ministers have confirmed.
Amid what is widely considered to be one of the worst housing shortages ever seen in Jersey, Members are set to vote on the Bridging Island Plan – a document that will set planning policy for the next three years.
Among the dozens of amendments lodged by politicians are proposals to build homes on agricultural fields and other sites.
In response to Scrutiny panel suggestions on the supply of housing, Environment Minister John Young, Housing Minister Russell Labey and Chief Minister John Le Fondré issued a joint reply in which they said the government would ‘explore the potential for developing a compulsory-purchase policy’ to support affordable-housing delivery and supply should Members reject too many proposed sites.
However, St Helier Deputy Mary Le Hegarat said that forcing the sale of certain areas was appropriate for large capital projects but not for housing.
‘If it is essential, for a hospital or a school, that is one thing. People will say housing is essential.
‘I do not disagree, but I think there has to be a balance,’ she said.
Deputy Le Hegarat has campaigned against the use of agricultural and green fields for housing in the Bridging Island Plan, and lodged several amendments to protect areas of St Helier and St Ouen from becoming sites for affordable homes.
She added: ‘I just do not know how we have ended up here. At some stage you have got to stand back and say: “We cannot carry on like this.” I think we lack imagination if I am honest. I do not think we have looked at all the options. There will be a point where we have got nothing left.
‘I would not be very happy were compulsory purchase used to build housing. I do not think it is right.’
Deputy Young has proposed a range of sites to deliver a total of 1,660 affordable homes. However, a long series of amendments could see the minister’s ‘Plan A’ list shortened or lengthened depending on how the Assembly votes.
Meanwhile, a member of a campaign group in St Saviour expressed her concerns.
‘Compulsory purchase of fields would make a mockery of the whole process,’ said Tricia Blandin, a resident who set up the Save our St Saviour group to fight against government plans to build housing in the parish, arguing the area was already overdeveloped and did not have enough facilities and schools to cope with an increase in residents brought about by new housing.
In response to a recommendation from the Environment, Housing and Infrastructure Scrutiny Panel’s recent affordable-housing-supply-and-delivery report, Deputy Young said that the government’s exploration of a compulsory-purchase policy would ‘include consideration of under which circumstances compulsory-purchase action would be appropriately pursued’, although those circumstances have not yet been defined. Compulsory-purchase orders would have to be agreed by the Assembly, as was the case with land required for the new hospital at Overdale.
In its recommendation, the Scrutiny panel stated: ‘The Minister for the Environment should ensure that the suggested policy in the draft Bridging Island Plan 2022-25 to impose a compulsory-purchase “backstop” on sites zoned for affordable housing is exercised, where required, to ensure as far as possible, that these sites are developed within a reasonable timeframe.’
The panel also recommended the development of a ‘broader policy’ regarding the use of compulsory-purchase powers to support affordable-housing development and regeneration, and that this should be completed by the end of 2022.
The draft Bridging Island Plan includes a policy on compulsory purchase which states that ‘where the development of affordable homes on sites allocated for this purpose has not commenced within three years of the approval of this plan, they may be subject to compulsory purchase by the States of Jersey’.
Deputy Young did not commit to any specific date for the creation of a compulsory-purchase policy, and said that such a decision would need to be approved by the States Assembly.
