Hotel owner fights Havre des Pas development

Friday 16 October 2020

The owner of a Havre des Pas hotel is fighting to stop the development of a five-storey apartment block claiming it would force part of his business to close during the building work.

Plans to demolish Caribbean Vibz, the Drifters Beach Bar and Café, as well as Maison Chaussey Guest House to make way for 10 one-bedroom and seven two-bedroom flats were unanimously approved by the Planning Committee in February.

The proposals, put forward by Mevanna Prestige Limited, had been previously pulled amid neighbours' concerns, and then rejected by the Planning Committee due to fears they would be harmful to nearby residents, particularly the Marina Metro Hotel.

Mevanna then scaled down its proposals, reducing the number of flats to 17, and scrapping the mezzanine levels on the fifth floor to reduce the overall height and size of the building. 

Pictured: The third version of the plans has been approved by the Planning Committee.

The building was also set back further and the windows to the east obscured with glazing as per the conditions recommended by the Committee.

Giancarlo and Marc Mattioli, whose family has owned the Marina Metro Hotel for 50 years, spoke against the application at the Planning Committee meeting, but their pleas didn’t convince the Committee who approved the plans.

In August, the family appealed the decision to grant planning permission, citing several grounds in their Appeal form.

Planning Inspector David Hainsworth heard from Mr Mattioli and his agent, an Associate Director at MS Planning and former government Planning Officer, John Nicholson, last week.

Mr Nicholson said the project, which he described as “speculative”, didn’t comply with the Island Plan in its entirety. 

“[The project] fails to take into account layers of policy,” he said. 

He went on to say there was not enough justification to depart from policies around housing standards, harm to neighbours, amenity space and density and some “important steps” had not been met, with no justification.

Pictured: The family who owns the Marina Metro Hotel are concerned about the impact the development will have on some of their rooms.

Mr Mattioli explained that the west side of the hotel as well as its restaurant would have to shut down during the works as the noise would be “unbearable” to the hotel’s guests’ quality of living. 

Ian McDonald, Director at Axis Mason Ltd, the agent for the application, described the plans as a “contemporary scheme of high design quality”. He said the project aimed to improve the streetscape and reuse the land in a “meaningful way”.

He argued that “considerable effort” had been made to preserve the view from the hotel by setting the building further back.

“We have taken the view that we should carve away the side of the development to protect the view and outlook,” he added.

Stephanie Steedman, a former Planner for the Government who now runs KE Planning, also spoke on behalf of Mevanna Prestige Limited. She noted that the height of the building was representative of buildings on either sides, arguing that “no unreasonable harm” was being caused on the surroundings.

She highlighted that the Committee had previously rejected the plans solely because of the loss of light, something she said the new plans had successful addressed.

Pictured: The Environment Minister will have to decide whether to allow the appeal or not after receiving the report from the Planning Inspector.

Principal Planner Andrew Townsend said there was no reason to refuse the development if no unreasonable harm was caused to neighbours. 

He said to refuse the plan could mean “missing an opportunity to make better use of the land."

He said that while the concerns raised were understandable, both the Planning Department and Committee had considered the plans acceptable and in line with policies.

The Planning Inspector will be writing a report to the Environment Minister, Deputy John Young, later this year. The Minister will then have to decide whether to allow the appeal or not.