17 July 2026
The Minister for Planning and Regulation, Senator Sir Mark Boleat, has rejected planning permission for building work at Retreat Farm, St Lawrence.
The application, which was granted permission by the former Planning Committee in December last year, requested the construction of an acoustic enclosure around existing chillers, with new landscape bunding and reinforced planting and screening, as well as a retrospective application to retain the existing chiller units.
Following a third-party appeal against the Planning Committee’s decision, the case was reviewed by independent planning inspector Sue Bell, who recommended that planning permission be refused.
The Inspector concluded that the submitted Environmental Impact Statement was inadequate and did not allow for a full understanding of the environmental effects of the proposals. The Inspector stated that it would be difficult to consent to an application that was insufficient to fully identify, describe and characterise the effects on the environment or which had not properly considered alternatives.
The Inspector added that, in recommending refusal, the chillers remained unauthorised. She noted that any consequences this might have on the cultivation of the crop and the applicant’s business would not justify consenting to an application which had not demonstrated how to avoid adverse effects and which was not in accord with the Bridging Island Plan.
The Minister said that he had “reluctantly” decided to uphold the Inspector’s recommendation. “Although this decision could have consequences on the applicant’s business, I cannot ignore the fact that consenting to this application would result in development that fails to fully consider adverse effects on the neighbouring community, particularly in respect of noise and odour,” he said. “Nevertheless, I believe the issues raised by the Inspector could be addressed in a new application.”
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