'Green' light for car showroom's leafy extension plan

Wednesday 10 August 2022

Jacksons has been given planning permission to build a first-floor car storage deck and ramp at its site in St. Peter.

The deck – which will be built at the back of the Land Rover showroom off Rue Fondon – will include a ‘green living wall’ on its south side to screen it from nearby homes.

An existing ramped area will be removed in order for the new deck, which won’t be accessible to customers, to be built.

The recently approved storage deck, and replanning of the ground deck, will provide a total of 67 back-of-house storage spaces for Jacksons. 

A brief submitted by the designers says: “This will improve the productiveness of the business and reduce deliveries and car trips from a remote off site storage facility. The will not only optimise the business and help it remain viable, it will reduce carbon emissions and additional vehicle noise from unnecessary car trips.”

Pictured: The car deck and green wall will be built at the back of Jacksons' Land Rover showroom off the Airport Road.

It adds: “A green living wall is proposed for the south elevation of the upper deck, which is now set back from the boundary well behind the existing building line. 

“The green living wall will provide a much improved visual aesthetic backdrop to adjacent neighbouring properties to the south. The other elevations are screened by the site configuration by the existing buildings. 

“The evergreen wall will feature native plants such as Jersey Ivy, which will also improve the biodiversity of the site.”

Jacksons will continue to allow residents whose homes border the south of the side to use a strip of land that it owns for parking and storage.

The brief states: “It should be noted that the dealership has an opportunity to plant out this area fully with trees to screen the dealership and any proposed extensions from the adjacent residential properties if it wanted. However, it is felt that it would be more considerate to allow the residences continued benefit from the land.”

As a condition from Planning, tree planting on the southern boundary must happen before any work can start and Jacksons must also submit a ‘schedule of maintenance’ on how the green wall will be looked after for the next five years.

Under a planning obligation agreement, Jacksons will also make a £5,000 contribution to the construction of a £11,500 bus shelter in the vicinity.

A previous application, which included extensions to the existing workshop, was refused last year but the extensions is being considered under a separate submission.

Under the now-approved application, the car deck has been reduced in scale and moved further away from the southern boundary, and the living wall added.

Jacksons is looking to move out of its Motor Mall site on Grande Route de St. Jean and consolidate its dealerships in St. Peter.

An application to open a Range home and leisure store at the Motor Mall is currently being considered by an independent planning inspector.

Recently, the island’s first 'living wall' was installed on the side of a house in St. Brelade.