Minister apologises for delay to housing rules

Deputy Jonathan Renouf said the department was six months behind schedule

Jersey's planning minister has apologised for delays in bringing forward new rules on affordable housing.

Deputy Jonathan Renouf said his department should have brought in guidelines to say that any new development of more than 50 homes had to allocate 15% of them to the assisted purchase scheme at the beginning of 2023.

He said the department was six months behind schedule and at least one development had gone through without that requirement.

Mr Renouf said it was because civil servants had other priorities.

"These are difficult decisions to make where you have to choose to prioritise resources, and as I say I am unhappy that the guidance on this particular area has resulted in one application going through before we're able to do it," he said.

Mr Renouf said he promised to bring the guidelines into place by the end of July during a states sitting.