'Monumental' apartment block fails to pass design test

Friday 16 July 2021

Plans to turn the former Jersey Monumental building on Val Plaisant into 12 apartments have been refused, following concerns about how the design would fit into part of the area.

Although the plans, which were recommended for approval by Planning officers, had already been scaled back, the Planning Committee still felt the architecture would have an undue impact on the historic Garden Lane and rejected it at their meeting yesterday.

Applied for by Cotton End Properties, the three-and-a-half storey development would have covered 1 Val Plaisant and 80 - 82 New Street, extending into Garden Lane.

Pictured: The building would have stretched from 1 Val Plaisant and 80 - 82 New Street, extending into Garden Lane.

In addition to the three one-bed and nine two-bed units, the plans would have also seen the creation of 12 bicycle bays, four parking bays and a large refuse store.

Discussing the committee’s final vote, Chair Constable Philip Le Sueur said that “the main concern of the committee was the architecture and adverse impact on the neighbouring properties in Garden Lane.”

Deputy Kirsten Morel said that the application was already “80% to 90% there”, but that it just needed to get the Garden Lane design right before becoming achievable.

The decision reflected the mood of many of the public comments on the application - one commenter said the aesthetics were “not in keeping with the rest of the lane, many of the buildings being 200 years old and of two storeys.”

Another said the plans could cause “disproportionate harm”, acknowledging that “we have a need for housing but not at the expense of the amenity of existing householders in Val Plaisant and Garden Lane or of a streetscape that listing nearby properties has sought to preserve.”