THE creation of distinct Planning Minister has been greeted by some – particularly those who prioritise protecting Jersey’s natural and historical built environment – with a degree of suspicion, verging on the dread.
Indeed, former Planning Committee Vice-Chairman Alastair Layzell – who served in the States when Planning was last a standalone entity – wrote in the columns of this publication that the move was “a stitch up” – designed to uncouple development from environmental considerations when the two should go hand in hand.
His suspicions were somewhat amplified by the Chief Minister’s choice of who to fill that role: Senator Sir Mark Boleat, a Jerseyman who earned his spurs on the streets of London, writing policy papers proposing how more houses should be built, and sitting on the board of a major UK house builder.
Would it be a case of ‘goodbye cow; hello concrete?’
Unsurprisingly, this is firmly rejected by Senator Boleat, who took his seat in the Assembly after coming eighth in the nine-seats-up-for-grabs Islandwide contest.
“I’m certainly not an enemy of the environment or the country: I think protecting our environment is absolutely vital,” he said. “One of the tasks of the Planning Minister is protecting the environment; it also goes to the heart of the Bridging Island Plan [the all-important blueprint of development and protection in Jersey].
“People sometimes talk about developers as if they were evil but most planning applications just come from people – ‘I want to build a conservatory, or repair my roof, or replace my windows or I want a new door’.
“Of course, I want to protect our environment but I have to ask ‘why have we got twice as many listed buildings as the UK per head of population?’
“Our environment is one of the great things about Jersey but, in my view, a derelict greenhouse is not protecting it, neither is a decrepit St Saviour’s Hospital nor a decaying La Folie Inn.”
The newly elected Senator added that greenhouse sites, some of which have been abandoned for decades, have become “permanent structures” and that the current iteration of the Island Plan, which states that they ought to be returned to agricultural use, is “not viable and there is no means of enforcing that”.
“I think you have got to look at each of the sites individually, and then it might be that part of it can be returned to agricultural use, bits of it could be green space, such as a sports field or park, and there may be scope for some of it to be developed,” he continued.
“The planning system should not be an obstacle to growth. Of course, it is not growth at all costs because the Island wouldn’t be attractive to anyone, including businesses, if it was.”
Senator Boleat said that arguments around the spitting of the Planning and Environment role, which had led to a States debate proposed by Planning Committee member Deputy Tom Coles, had been “blown out of all proportion”.
“It simply means there’s a slight change in ministerial responsibilities,” he said. “Even before I was formally elected Planning Minister, I was exercising all of the powers, which had all been delegated to me. So, this could have happened without creating a new department at all.
“It is for the Assembly to decide our policies on the environment, not for an individual minister. But personally, I’m absolutely committed to maintaining our fantastic environment.”
He added: “The Chief Minister decided that, for a number of reasons, it made sense to bring several regulatory functions into one department. The previous arrangement just wasn’t logical: for example, the Jersey Care Commission fell within the Minister of the Environment because that is where Regulation fell.
“And that team is separate from Environment, so it is wrong to think this is creating a new huge department; it is simply dividing people into more rational groups.
“During the election, almost every Senatorial candidate said that the planning system is an obstacle to growth, and that we need to remove red tape. This is a priority and the Chief Minister has given a minister responsibility for dealing with those issues.”
Senator Boleat takes over at Planning when it is emerging from a period of significant reform, the genesis for that being a report by former Scottish planner Jim Mackinnon, published in April 2023, which concluded that the department was underperforming, suffered from poor customer service, and required several “radical” improvements.
The Senator said: “That first report was pretty devastating and the follow-up progress report [in April 2024] was equally devastating. However, the second progress report [in April 2025] was much better.
“What I’ve found, in the six or so weeks I have been doing the job, is that the department has really good officers. The problem is not them; the problem is the system they are having to work under. We have a Bridging Island Plan that is not fit for purpose.”
That in itself is controversial because some people argue that the BIP – formulated in the depths of the pandemic and only designed to last until the end of 2025 – has done a pretty good job of protecting the countryside, all things considered.
However, Senator Boleat points out that the data on which the BIP was based – including assessments of population growth and housing need – have not turned out to be accurate.
“The Bridging Island Plan was out of date on the day it was written,” he said. “Also, it was far too wide-ranging: a lot of it was about preservation, and there are bits in it that, to me, make no sense.
“For example, there is a policy that greenhouse sites must be returned to agricultural use. Well, there are several which have been derelict for decades; so, I would argue that that isn’t a great policy. The plan is also rigid and hardly mentions the economy.
“So, we start from the premise that the Island Plan is not ideal, and a new plan will take years to bring in. However, we can now amend the existing plan, and that’s on the agenda as part of a process that will absolutely involve the Assembly.
“There will be a shopping list of things to do; some will be controversial, some not. I suspect the plan to change the rules around greenhouses will be more controversial, and I also think the heritage parts of the plan are a bit overdone.”
He explained: “You can seek to protect our heritage but sometimes that means we would much rather have a derelict building than have it modernised. I live in an old farmhouse that was once a big farm building which was converted into four units.
“I’m sure it looks much better than what was there before. Walking around the Island, you come across some very old, rather derelict farm buildings that would look much better lived in.
“I think bringing some pragmatism into the planning process is absolutely essential.
“An expression that I often use is that ‘the best is the enemy of the good’. Wouldn’t it be great if St Saviour’s Hospital was magnificently restored? Maybe, but it’s not going to be unless someone is willing to pay for it, and that doesn’t include the taxpayer. We always need to balance what would be the best against what we can afford.”
Senator Boleat stressed that he did not envisage the green zone changing significantly under this Island Plan or the next.
He said: “There is scope to do a lot without affecting what is protected as green zone, and that is where the parishes have got to have their say. Not all of them say ‘no development at any cost’ and there is no point complaining that young people cannot afford to buy in their home parish if no building is allowed.”
Asked if he supported deviating from a central tenet of the BIP: its presumption that development should take place in St Helier over the countryside, Senator Boleat replied: “I think that would be one of the points of discussion, and I would want to see evidence of the impact of that before coming to a view.
“But it is not up to the minister to do this on his or her own; it is for the whole Assembly to decide. The fact is we are concentrating housing in St Helier – and that means we have to allow more density by definition.
“It is a balance: people also complain about the time it takes to travel into town but that is because a lot of jobs are in St Helier because that is what the planning policy says.”
Senator Boleat said he would also review some of the additional guidance that has fallen out of the plan, including minimum space standards and parking requirements.
Last October, the States backed a proposal from then St Helier Constable Simon Crowcroft requiring that planning guidance is updated to make it mandatory that every new home has a parking space “where practically possible”.
Senator Boleat indicated that he would ask for approval to row back from that decision.
He said: “I’m a great believer in using evidence in policy making and I just didn’t understand the decision of the Assembly that every new unit, without exception, has to have a parking space.
“Now, clearly, if you’re living in St Mary or St Ouen, a car is pretty essential, but I cannot see that that is necessary everywhere; not everybody can drive nor wants to drive, either.
“It is no good having a comprehensive system that looks at everything in great detail, and then somebody says: ‘I’m going to propose X and I don’t need to prove that it makes sense.
“We’ve got to have a system that means everything is properly evaluated.”
When it come to thorough evaluation, Senator Boleat said that he recognised that when the current Island Plan was debated and agreed, some of the fields rezoned for affordable homes had been late additions proposed by Members with little or no detailed analysis of their capacity for housing.
This included several fields in St Peter and St John, for example, with the taxpayer now funding tens of millions of pounds worth of sewerage upgrades because it was highlighted – only after the debate – that the existing network could not cope.
He said: “Some of those fields rezoned for housing simply do not have the drainage so will not be built on, and even one in St Martin I approved on appeal recently does not have adequate drainage, which was made clear in the inspector’s report.
“The next Island Plan process needs to be more logical, it needs to be more flexible, and it certainly needs to be shorter and a bit more balanced.”
He added “I believe the current plan leans too much to preserving the past. That might be fine for people living comfortably in the country but young people are struggling to buy their first home. It is no good being concerned about young people leaving the Island but not doing anything about it.”
With a long career involved in public policy in England, Senator Boleat might be an experienced hand in the art of politics but, in Jersey terms, he is a parliamentary newbie, having just been elected after failing the last time, in 2022, as head of the doomed Alliance Party.
After success second time around, was the Planning portfolio something he had aspired to?
He said: “I wasn’t planning to stand at all after the 2022 election, which was an unpleasant experience, but a lot of people encouraged me to do so, and I was far happier to stand as a Senator than a Deputy.
“’I spent most of the last three years working with the [independent thinktank] Policy Centre Jersey, looking at a range of different areas, which I just find fascinating; I’m a policy wonk.
“I’ve carried out work, for example, on early years, long-term care, the economy and housing, And so, having looked at them, I felt I had a fair bit of knowledge, but more importantly, I could see things that needed to change.”
Senator Boleat added that he had enjoyed this year’s campaign, including the “good-humoured” hustings – although he felt there were too many candidates for the format to be effective.
He was also looking forward to the next four years, which would include preparing for a new Island Plan, although he felt the current one could be extended, especially since the last Assembly approved for parts of it to be updated as opposed to en bloc – something that had previously not been allowed.
“There is a lot to do but I hope my track record shows that I am capable of getting stuck in to make positive changes that have been properly thought through.”
