Dandara appeals Route Orange apartment plan refusal

Thursday 17 November 2022

Dandara is appealing a decision of the Planning Committee to reject an application by the developer to knock down a house on Route Orange and replace it with 13 apartments.

The group of politicians turned down plans last month, the second time the project has been refused.

They judged that the “proposed development by virtue of its mass and scale would be dominant and intrusive, thereby unreasonably affecting the character and amenity of the area and the environment”.

The application relates to a property called Fair Acre, which is to the western end of Route Orange, which runs from Les Quennevais to La Moye.

A previous application for 15 two-bedroom units submitted in 2020 was refused by the previous Committee in May.

Dandara has now lodged an appeal to the second refusal. Accepted appeals are considered by an independent inspector, who then makes a recommendation to the Planning Minister.

The developer argues that the committee did not pay “proper regard” to its supporting documents included with the application and they have “misunderstood” and “paid insufficient regard” to various policies of the Bridging Island Plan, which is essentially the rulebook against which all planning decisions are judged.

The appeal is also based on the argument that the committee did not take into account recently published draft supplementary planning guidance – which adds and clarifies polices in the BIP – that encourages denser building in built-up areas.

The application attracted 38 public comments, the majority of them from islanders against the development.