Efforts to make the Little Chapel more accessible to people using wheelchairs and those with reduced mobility will go ahead.
The Little Chapel Foundation recently submitted a planning application seeking permission to redevelop the pathways around the small building, to create an interpretation centre, and to put in toilets.
Those plans have now been approved, with a condition that work must start within three years.
The Chairman of the ‘TLC Foundation’ previously told Express that work would start on improving the pathways and the creation of the interpretation centre as soon as possible.
Joe Mooney said this work will be reliant on donations and will take years to complete, but the paths and interpretation centre are the TLC Foundation’s priorities.
Mr Mooney reiterated that this planning application is distinct from previous plans which sought permission to build a wall across the front of the Little Chapel raising fears of an entrance fee.
He said instead the Foundation wants to ensure as many people as possible can get to the Little Chapel to reflect its ongoing position as one of Guernsey’s most popular sites.
“Our main focus initially is accessibility and getting from the lower car park, staying within the confines of the Little Chapel grounds, and accessing both doors, the lower and upper doors of the Little Chapel itself,” he explained.
Acknowledging that the Little Chapel itself will remain inaccessible to some people because of how small it is inside, Mr Mooney said the work planned to the pathways will allow many more people to see it up close for themselves.
“It will be a much more enhanced visitor experience, because you’ll have time to meander along through the pathway. Lots of times you come in, you come up the side steps, and then you go up the steps, and then you come back down the same steps, so we’re saying you’ll be able to go around the corner and come out the other side or go back the other way.”
The pathways that currently join the car park that lies at the entrance to the Little Chapel from Route de St André (Le Bouillon Road) are accessible by foot but are muddy, uneven, and overgrown. The pathways around the Little Chapel itself are similarly uneven at best.
Smoothing these out, to allow wheelchair access from the car park to and around the Little Chapel are the priority, said Mr Mooney.
He is also keen for work to start on the proposed Interpretation Centre that is intended to go at ‘Deodat’s Castle’.
‘Deodat’s Castle’ – named after Brother Deodat who built the Little Chapel – is the outside space to the north of the Chapel itself, overlooking the valley.
The Foundation has now got permission to remove some of the existing stone archway to create a Gazebo offering shelter with information boards. The land immediately around this area will be landscaped, while shells will be added to some of the retained columns to ensure the area is in keeping with the Little Chapel.
“There’ll be an area for you to sit down, catch your breath, or whatever, because it is a bit of a trek from the car park to here,” said Mr Mooney.
“And you can just take in the valley as well,” he added.
Seating will be provided “throughout” the new pathways under these plans, as well as within the Interpretation Centre.
When work starts on the pathways it will also take into account the site’s religious significance, Mr Mooney added.
This will include retaining and re-installing the Stations of the Cross in numerical order along the newly accessible pathways.
Mr Mooney said ensuring the site’s religious significance is maintained is important to the Little Chapel Foundation.
“We will get the Stations of the Cross onto the pathway and get them into numerical order as well, so you can focus, so if you wish to say a decade of Rosary on the way, you can do so.”
Plans to create toilets have also been approved within the current designs to coincide with an ‘entrance shelter’ at the car park end of the site, but Mr Mooney said the pathways and Interpretation Centre are the priority.
He also said that a shop/café that is included in this planning application could follow in the future, but that is also not a priority for the initial building work.