Plans to reverse Guernsey Castel Hospital listing decision

The hospital was previously used as a facility for treating people with mental health problems

Politicians in Guernsey are looking at reversing a decision by planning heads to list Castel Hospital.

The Development and Planning Authority (DPA) voted last week to protect most of the structure and some interior.

P&R had planned to demolish the former mental health facility to build 100 houses on the site with developers.

Policy and Resources (P&R) property lead David Mahoney said "we could be able to bring the decision to the States" under part of the Planning Law.

'Financial blot'

Mr Mahoney said: "We hadn't planned for it to be listed. Listing it triples or quadruples the price of any work, so will make it unviable."

He said the decision did not "show any forward thinking at all, given the housing crisis we have".

Chief Minister Peter Ferbrache labelled the decision as "shocking", adding he was "disappointed" and it was "going to be a blot on the States' financial landscape for a very long time".

DPA president Victoria Oliver did not support the plans to list the building but was outvoted by the rest of her committee.

She said: "I thought one small part of the property should be protected, but the rest of the committee thought the rest should and, it's a democracy, so we ended up where we are."

She added that listing did not mean the property could not be demolished in the future, it was "just a much higher bar you have to jump over".

Andrew Dyke said the front of Castel Hospital was a "seriously good piece of architecture"

Director of architecture firm CCD Andrew Dyke backed the listing.

He said: "This is actually a very important building. The front of it is a seriously good piece of architecture.

"Underneath all of the additions, there is a beautiful building that can be adapted for the future."

There are currently 1,600 protected buildings in the Bailiwick of Guernsey, according to the States of Guernsey.

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