The notification also included the plans to remove 4 Lower Hauteville, Le Pres des Romains, St Mary Anthony, Alton and Dolphins from the protected buildings and monument list.
The properties are spread across St Peter Port, St Sampson’s, Vale and St Martin’s.
Pictured: The recent announcement of the addition of the Castel Hospital and the removal of five properties from the protected buildings and monument list.
A States spokesperson has confirmed the process for removing properties from the protected list which ultimately happens less frequently than properties being added to it.
The Development and Planning Authority has a five-stage process for adding or removing properties or monuments to the protected list, which itself is concluded with a three-step process that includes a surveyors report, a meeting of the Protected Building Panel and the final decision of the Director of Planning Services or the DPA President.
A ‘Community Guide to the Review of the Protected Buildings List’ was created in 2013 and is available online HERE.
“If the decision involves removing a building from the list, adding a building to the list, or amending the extent of a protected building a notice is placed in the Gazette Officielle,” and when that decision is made – which may or may not follow the preference of the property owner – all “interested parties are informed.”
Pictured: The Castel Hospital site is to be listed to protect parts of the facade against future developments.
The DPA is responsible for ‘conserving and enhancing the built, natural and historic environment’ of the island.
“The overarching aims of conservation derive from duties under the Law to preserve and enhance the island’s built and natural environment. A suite of planning legislation provides ‘tools’ to support the way we manage change to sustain special character and interest of the built and natural environment.”
The protect buildings list which comes under those conservation aims is currently 73 pages long. It has been updated as recently as 25 July, with 4 Lower Hauteville no longer listed. Dolphins at Jerbourg was listed as a protected building though, even after it was demolished.
The DPA advises that “every part of a listed building is protected, including the interior and any later alterations or additions, unless stated otherwise” but it also says that just been being placed on the protected buildings list does not mean that properties cannot be modified.
“There seems to be a myth in Guernsey that nothing can be done to a protected building. This is not true. A surprising amount of work can be carried out even without planning permission under exemptions including repair, maintenance and minor alteration.”
Pictured: Guidance for protected buildings can be found HERE.
While being added to the protected buildings list may be seen as a burden for owners, being taken off the list can be a challenge.
The DPA said the list is reviewed “to make sure that buildings have been designated appropriately” and also to consider what other properties should be added or removed.
One of the most well known properties to be removed from the protected list was the Dolphins house at Jerbourg – which was built in 1937 and described by planners before its demolition as being of “significant definite high quality and character”.
“No demolition shall take place until a point cloud survey of the interior and exterior of the building has been undertaken, and 3D models of the interior and exterior produced, and copies of both the point cloud survey data and 3D models submitted to the Authority in a file format compatible with ArchiCAD software,” said Planning Director Jim Rowles in July 2021.
Pictured: The art-deco Dolphins House at Jerbourg was demolished after it reached a state beyond repair.
Of the other properties recently removed from the protected buildings list all are, or were, residential properties.
St Mary Anthony on La Carriere Lane in the Vale was removed from the protected building register in May, and the owners have now been granted permission to convert the building into a dog grooming salon.
It’s not known what is happening to the other properties as of yet, with no details listed on the States planning register online.
As well as properties, monuments, trees and other ‘sites of special significance’ are protected under law in Guernsey.
The protected monuments list was updated on 20 July and currently runs to 15 pages long, while the protected tree list is four pages long.
When the Island Development Plan was agreed by the States in 2016 there were nine sites of special significance in Guernsey and 26 conservation areas.
There are routes for members of the public who want properties, monuments or trees added to the protected list, or removed from it HERE.
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