Pre-application planning request for Seaside Café (FOI)

​Request

In his response to a petition relating to development of the Seaside Cafe at Greve de Lecq https://bit.ly/38aLDCe the Minister for Planning said:

“The Development Control team within the Infrastructure, Housing and Environment (‘IHE) directorate have not yet received any recent planning applications for this site at Greve de Lecq. However, the team can confirm that a request for pre-application officer advice - a service which is available to all prospective applicants - has been received in relation to a development proposal here, which is currently being assessed“

Please disclose this pre-application request and the development proposal behind it together with any response issued by Planning Officers.

Response

The information you have requested is exempt under Article 26 (Information given in confidence) and Article 33 (Commercial interests) of the Freedom of Information (Jersey) Law 2011.

Pre-application advice is being sought from the developer through the Jersey Architectural Commission. The Commission’s Terms of Reference clearly state that information shared through the pre-application advice process will remain confidential until such a time as the final scheme application has been submitted for determination.

Jersey Architecture Commission Terms of Reference

The early release of information relating to this scheme would not only constitute a breach of confidentiality but also have a detrimental effect on the commercial interests of the developer.

The planning process is transparent, and all elements of the scheme will be made available to the public when a final application has been submitted – the public interest will therefore be met in due course.

To this end, the public interest in the scheme will be satisfied and early disclosure of the commercially sensitive details will not further the public interest in this regard but only serve to disadvantage the developer’s commercial relationships and negotiations with land owners, suppliers and other parties.

Exemptions applied:

26 Information supplied in confidence

Information is absolutely exempt information if –

(a) it was obtained by the scheduled public authority from another person (including another public authority); and

(b) the disclosure of the information to the public by the scheduled public authority holding it would constitute a breach of confidence actionable by that or any other person.

33 Commercial interests

Information is qualified exempt information if –

(a) it constitutes a trade secret; or

(b) its disclosure would, or would be likely to, prejudice the commercial interests of a person (including the scheduled public authority holding the information).