THE merits of a plan to erect a 907m fence at Plémont to protect Jersey’s dwindling number of puffins from attacks by predators have been heard at a hearing – which will have a significant say over whether the controversial project should go ahead.
On Tuesday, an independent planning inspector heard a third-party appeal by Kenneth Journeaux, who is against approved plans to put up the near-kilometre-long, 2m-high fence, submitted by National Trust-, Durrell- and Environment Department-backed initiative Birds on the Edge.
The partnership wants to create a seabird sanctuary to stop invasive predators like rats and ferrets from threatening puffins, who numbers have gone from over 500 pairs a century ago to just three today.
The temporary fence – which has planning permission for 15 years – was approved by the Planning Committee last May and received full approval in October, once various conditions were satisfied.
However, Mr Journeaux, who owns land within 50m of the fence, lodged an appeal later that month.
This week, before planning inspector Philip Staddon, Mr Journeaux argued that the fence proposal was based on false information and was contrary to a number of policies of the Bridging Island Plan, against which all planning decisions are made.
He told the hearing that, among other things, the fence would introduce a jarring manmade structure into an unspoilt area, it would disrupt existing biodiversity, and he did not accept that it was the only option on the table.
Above all, Mr Journeaux said that the fence would not do its intended job because it was other factors – including climate change and a reduction in the number of sand-eels, which has prompted puffins to seek food elsewhere – which had led to the decline in local puffins.
Birds on the Edge, which was represented at the appeal by National Trust chief executive Alan Le Maistre, refute Mr Journeaux’s grounds for appeal, arguing that it is absolutely necessary to reverse the puffin decline. Similar schemes, they say, have worked elsewhere.
Mr Staddon will now make a recommendation to the Environment Minister on whether the appeal should be upheld or rejected.
