Guernsey's hospital housing application withdrawn by P&R

Plans for dozens of homes for hospital staff have been withdrawn

A plan to build housing for staff at the Princess Elizabeth Hospital in Guernsey has been withdrawn.

Policy and Resources (P&R) decided not to continue with the plans for 66 homes because the application was "very unlikely to succeed".

The committee was under pressure to remove the application after a warning it would be a waste of resources.

An attempt to stop development on the field, called Le Bordage Seath, was defeated in 2022.

P&R President Lyndon Trott acknowledged the development faced serious political and public opposition.

"It is more difficult to argue that the development of the green field site at Bordage Seath is strategically important at this time," he said.

Since the application was submitted the former P&R committee, led by Deputy Peter Ferbrache, announced the States would be buying and developing the Braye Lodge Hotel.

Deputy Heidi Soulsby said it was unlikely the site would get planning permission

P&R vice-president Deputy Heidi Soulsby admitted it was unlikely the Bordage Seath site was going to get planning permission, which is one of the key reasons her committee withdrew the application.

"It's quite a high bar to get this exception to the Island Development Plan which was needed to build here, so we decided it would be a better use of resources to focus on the other sites we have," she said.

Deputy Yvonne Burford, president of the Scrutiny Management Committee, welcomed the move.

"I am delighted that P&R has withdrawn the application to build accommodation on an agricultural priority area green field by the hospital," she said.

"The application was highly flawed from the outset and was therefore unlikely to succeed, but nevertheless some 18 months were wasted in pursuing it."