THE Island’s equine sector ‘offers a valuable solution to Jersey’s declining agricultural industry’, according to a couple hoping to convert an ‘unkempt storage facility in St Ouen into stables for a livery business.
Gary and Lorraine Vibert want to turn a conventional timber stable into two stables and two storage rooms at The Coach House, Manor Farm, on Cache ès Fresnes .
In a planning application, they explained: ‘With our experience, we have seen an opportunity to diversify the land we own and run a small business alongside our existing jobs.’
In their business plan, submitted alongside their planning application, the couple say that ‘with the decline in farming, equine land and stabling has become an increasingly viable option for Jersey’s rural economy’. They added: ‘Land and stabling are continually in demand in Jersey, and we already have interest should our application be successful.
‘Our field is not suitable for potato growing and yet the costs of maintaining hedges and the land remain, so by running a smallholding some of these costs can be offset.’
The Bridging Island Plan also states that the equine industry ‘is (and should be recognised as) an economically significant and socially valuable use of land resources’.
Michael Stein, director of MS Planning, which is involved with the project, explained in the planning application that the proposed area for the livery business ‘has for some time been used to store farm machinery used to maintain the site and small-scale growing of vegetables, leading to a slightly unkempt appearance.
‘The proposal will involve clearing the site and constructing the stable building,’ he said.
If approved, the stable would feature solar panels on a low-pitched roof, and be located at the north of the site, while the south of the site would be used for grazing.
The land in question is on the same road as St Ouen’s Football Club.
