More new homes are currently being planned or built than at any stage over the past decade.
The Island Development Plan – a blueprint for development across Guernsey – was adopted in 2016, giving the Development and Planning Authority (DPA) and other States committees and builders a guide for what can and can’t be built, and where.
In 2016, there were 1,415 houses in the ‘pipeline’ which included all properties in the planning stages, that had permission to be built and might come forward for development within two years.
That pipeline supply dropped as low as 531 in 2021, when most building work was still hampered by pandemic restrictions.
Recovery was slow to start with, but has gathered pace over the last two years with 1,193 properties in the pipeline earlier this year.
This is also higher than the planned developments approved over the decade prior to the IDP being adopted.
Properties currently waiting in the pipeline include a 10-dwelling development at Valnord, 15 flats at the old L’eree Bay Hotel site, 17 flats at Kings, 33 properties at Briarwood in St Martin’s, and the 70-unit development at the former CI Tyres site on La Charotterie.
These developments are at different stages, with most new homes unlikely to be ready for people to move in before 2028.
Other developments in the pipeline are the 314 units planned for Leale’s Yard and the 85 new homes planned for the Mallard site – with initial site clearance work underway.
Pipeline developments include others with permissions where work has not started, including at the Chalet Hotel, Pointues Rocques vinery, and the Best’s complex on the Ruette Braye.
Another 44 dwellings have only joined the pipeline recently after full planning permission was granted during the second quarter of this year.
This includes a plan to create 12 new flats utilising redundant office space at Eton House on Rue du Pré in town.
The DPA said the average number of dwellings approved per quarter over the past three years was 69 units, so this has dropped by 36% during the second quarter of this year.
None of the approved developments are on greenfield sites, with conversions of existing buildings accounting for 30 of the new flats.
In total, 53 bedrooms will be provided at the 44 new units approved by the DPA during quarter two this year.
Although the States have removed the requirement to build approved housing as part of larger developments, none of those approved between April and June this year would have qualified anyway.
The pipeline includes 154 affordable housing units – but none have been added to that list through recent permissions.
The total number of housing units currently being built remains at a ten-year high, though, with more than 400 dwellings.
