Are ugly beach kiosks spoiling the island’s tourist hotspots?

Thursday 12 April 2018

There has been a political call to ban ‘ugly’ kiosks on Jersey’s beaches, and change planning restrictions to allow less “offending” business premises to trade on the sand.

The Minister in charge of the island’s tourism industry wants to get rid of old shipping containers used as beach concession kiosks, as he believes they have a “negative environmental impact” on some of Jersey’s best assets.

Senator Lyndon Farnham told Express: “I think all of our catering offerings around our beautiful beaches should be in fitting with the environment and I happen to think beach containers don’t look great and we need to do something about it."

The Minister expressed his dislike of shipping containers used for beach businesses in a letter to the Environment Minister, after a planning applicationwas put forward last autumn for changes to a nearby property, which involved moving the current food kiosk on Grouville Bay closer to Gorey. He was joined by Grouville's Constable John Le Maistre and Deputy Carolyn Labey. Both "strongly" objected to "spoiling the magnificent view and vista that is currently enjoyed by people sitting on the benches and sand dunes overlooking the beach" on behalf of their parishioners, who were worried about the sight of the kiosks, and the smells and noise disturbance they might bring.

"The current view of Gorey Castle, the foreshore and Seymour Tower would be ruined by a kiosk and rusty old shipping container at the centre of it," they said.

Pictured: The Minister responsible for Tourism says the old shipping containers used to house beach businesses are blighting the island's beautiful beaches.  

In his letter, Senator Farnham acknowledged the need of beach concessions but said it should be delivered from a better structure that would enhance the location as it falls within the Coastal National Park and Ramsar Site - two protected areas of special environmental interest. During his visit to the beach, he said he was “less than impressed by the external appearance of the movable structures”, calling for a change in the island’s planning policies.

Although that planning application has now been withdrawn because of strong opposition from Parish Officials and nearby residents, it’s an issue the Economic Development Minister says he still has his eye on, as he appreciates the importance of the beach businesses but also the need to enhance the island’s holiday hotspots – without being critical about the owners.  

“I’ve made my points clear to the Environment Minister so it’s about how we deal with the land use issue. If we are going to ask somebody to remove the container that they run their business from, I think it’s only fair we allow them to put a permanent structure there, but there are quite serious planning ramifications about that because of the sensitive areas that they are located within,” Senator Farnham added.

The recent arrival of Storm Eleanor, which washed out one of the shipping containers used for a water sports business on Grouville Bay, showed just how ‘removable’ the structures are. Senator Farnham said: “It seems odd that we can’t allow permanent structure that would look much nicer but we can allow a removable structure that is not up to the standards that islanders and visitors would expect from visiting such a beautiful island.”

Pictured: Senator Farnham wants the Planning Department to change their beach restrictions to allow high quality business structures. 

The Environment Minister, Deputy Steve Luce, told Express: "I would say that my department always seeks to ensure that the design of new structures is of a high quality, whether it be a beach concession or a large new building.  The policies of the Island Plan (GD7 Better by Design) require high standards of design for development, that are appropriate to the context in which it sits."

Deputy Luce adds that work has started with the Environment Department and Economic Development to ensure "that the quality of the Island’s beach concessions remains high and appropriate to Jersey’s increasingly important tourism offer."

Senator Farnham hopes the issue will be revisited after the elections in order to improve the island’s scenery, saying: “We can do better, I mean we’re investing in our infrastructure, we’re seeing a renaissance in our tourism industry, visitor numbers are growing again so we have to lead on these sorts of things and it’s not appropriate to have old shipping containers on our beaches selling ice-creams and hot food in this day and age. We need to up our game, and we need to help the proprietor to get something. I’m sure given the choice they would want to do something better."