PORTELET Bay Café’s plans to rearrange boulders on the beach to create a rock armour to protect the cliff face behind have been rejected – with the business now asking for permission to make emergency repairs to its sea wall and steps.
The café – sandwiched between the sea and an eroding cliff – has always been exposed to the elements and its owners applied to Planning to restore the seawall in front and stabilise the land behind and to the side, which is also their property.
However, their bid has failed because they say an ‘Environmental Impact Assessment’ was not included in their application.
Co-owner Piers Ostroumoff said that he was extremely disappointed with the outcome.
“All we wanted to do is to shift the boulders that are already on the beach to form a rock armour and restore the nearby bank. This would have protected the trees behind, which are now on the beach.
“It’s very frustrating but at least with the new application, if it is passed, there won’t be a danger to the public, as there has been this season and last season.”
The project’s architect, Nick Socrates, added that all the information that would have been in an EIA – which he said is expensive and can only be carried out by off-island consultants – was already included in other submitted documents, so it was disappointed that plans had been rejected.
“This is the epitome of a tick-box exercise,” he said.
Support for the initial application included the Jersey Hospitality Association, which said that the plans and design “appear to have no negative impact on any surrounding neighbours, nor the environment”.
The new application is a stripped-down version of the first, asking permission to repair and maintain the existing sea wall and two sets of concrete steps. Mr Socrates said that Planning had confirmed that an EIS was not required for this new attempt.
The application says that the project “responds to ongoing erosion and structural degradation that threatens the safety and stability of Portelet Bay Café and public access steps to the beach”.
