Planning guidance to protect jobs and businesses

29 June 2012

New supplementary planning guidance which calls on developers to provide more detailed justification when applying to change the use of land and buildings that provide employment has been consulted upon and approved.

Deputy Duhamel said “There is a clear need for the Island’s economy to be protected and allowed to regenerate, and importantly, for jobs to be protected and created. To do this, business and commerce need land and buildings, and the planning system can help to ensure that existing employment land is not lost to other forms of development.”

He said that there can be pressure to redevelop employment land for other uses, particularly for new homes, where higher land values can often be obtained, and sites available for new business development are scarce. “The loss of any size of site in employment use can, therefore, be significant, especially since a large proportion (77%) of the 5,700 businesses in Jersey employ 5 or fewer people,” he said.

The approved guidance sets out to explain in more detail how the Island Plan policy on the protection of employment land (Policy E1) will be operated, interpreted and applied in decision making. It provides greater detail on the evidence that is required to be submitted with planning applications that affect land and buildings in employment use to test whether there is sufficient justification to redevelop employment land for other uses, so that planning applications can be properly assessed.