Opinion divided on permission for 144 new Jersey homes
Permission was also granted for eight two-bedroom bungalows, four two-bedroom apartments and eight one-bedroom flats.Developers said 45% of the new homes would be made available for social rental, while 55% would be released for discounted purchase.The application also includes a shared open space, bike parking, and changes to the road layout - including making part of La Verte Rue easier for people to walk on.
The proposals have been under development for some time, and were the subject of a parish assembly vote last summer.But some residents who wrote letters of objection claimed consultation had been insufficient.Others raised concerns about the increased pressure 128 new homes might place on local services."The schools are packed as they are," said Trent Weber, who lives nearby."Traffic is a nightmare even before we start doing these works so basically how are we going to get in, how are we going to get out, what's the plan?".
Former planning minister John Young spearheaded the development of the bridging island plan before leaving politics in 2022.He said the document - which dictates planning rules - sought to make provision for more than 4,000 new homes, needed at the time due to increases in the island's population.But Mr Young, who was speaking as new figures highlighted the island's falling birth rate, said data showed circumstances had changed."Originally I wanted to see a smaller extension of the village area," he said, "and so I do query why we needed to do such a very large development at St Peter."He questioned the impact on the Beaumont junction."I would have personally, if I'd been in office, wanted to see those number of homes kept down to a smaller number," he said.
In their planning application, developers Forge Developments and Godel Architects said the site's location would "support a reduction in the demand for travel by the private car, although it was "perhaps inevitable" traffic congestion would occur at peak times.They said there had been "repeated public consultation" and they were "confident that the level of consultation" had satisfied planning policies and regulations."The result is a first-class scheme on a rezoned site - unanimously approved by all seven members of the planning committee," they added.
16 new homes at Sion - approved
Forge Developments is also behind approved plans for 16 new, affordable homes on field T1404 in Trinity, which was also rezoned for housing in the 2022 island plan.The scheme includes three two-bedroom houses, 11 three-bedroom houses and two four-bedroom houses.As with the development in St Peter, 45% of the new homes will be made available for social rental, while 55% will be released for discounted purchase.An initial application for homes on the site was rejected by the planning committee earlier this year.
Some nearby residents raised concerns about access, traffic and impact on local services.A separate development of 37 new properties is currently being built on the other side of La Grande Route de St Jean, next to Sion Methodist Church.Bonny's Country Garden borders the site of the 16 new properties.Owner Alan Bonny said he was concerned the development would overshadow his business. "The main worry is that it's going to put a lot of shade over the tunnel where we grow. You can't grow without light," he said.He continued: "You can't build a second St Helier up in Sion. We have to spread the load a little bit."Apart from that there will be noise from the tunnels. We have to keep fans on to keep the air moving. People won't like that, they'll complain."
In comments to the planning committee, Forge Developments and Morris Architects said plans for a hedge, due to be planted on the site boundary, had been "reduced in height and form" since initial proposals were rejected in January 2025.They said a technical assessment demonstrated "extremely small overshadowing impacts" and they also had a "noise mitigation strategy".They added the proposals had been developed in consultation with the government's transport team, and the level of traffic expected would be "entirely manageable".The application was approved on condition noise testing was conducted before residents moved in.
42 sheltered housing units - rejected
While its members reached unanimous decisions on the other two proposals, Jersey's planning committee was split over plans for 42 units of sheltered housing on land next to St Joseph's Care Home in St Helier.The applicants, Aedifica JE (St Josephs) Limited, sought permission for 38 one-bed properties and four two-bed homes.
The application received 166 public comments. Many raised concerns residents of the existing care home might be adversely affected by construction of the new properties, a lack of parking spaces, and that trees would be removed."There's such a large variety of mature trees there," said environmental campaigner Sheena Brockie."It's on the outskirts of town and it would be alive with lots of different biodiversity, lots of wildlife using that space. "But it's also the community value for the people in the care home. "They're in a room, perhaps not as mobile as they used to be, and actually they're right in the midst of nature - so why take all that away and clear the land?"
In planning documents, the applicants said: "Trees have been central to the design process from the start and have clearly had a substantial influence to the design and layout. "The submitted plans show the retention of the majority of trees, including the best trees on site as well as large areas of green space".They added: "Whilst it is fully understood that any construction work within a care home setting will be undesirable, with careful consideration the impacts can be understood and managed."Two members of the planning committee backed the application, but four refused it.
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Across the country, many municipalities have done the same. Big cities like Madison, Wisconsin, and Atlanta, Georgia, are currently exploring ways to use city support to address food deserts, while small towns in Kansas and Florida have turned to town-owned grocery stores after privately owned grocers have shut down or left. These initiatives often begin when a community has already been failed by the private sector. Atlanta councilmember Marci Overstreet knows firsthand what it's like when a community is left completely at the mercy of private grocery stores. As councilmember of a district with limited access to fresh food, Overstreet began doing everything she could to lure grocery developers to her area, attending trade shows in Vegas and setting up meetings with big-box grocers. Time and again, she watched as store representatives would punch in her zip code and disqualify her district on the spot for not being deemed a profitable enough area to be worth opening a store in. 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As much as New York might learn from looking to other cities, some experts say there's even better proof that government-owned grocery stores can work to be found in a surprising place: the US military. Every branch of the military has its own public grocery system, sometimes referred to as an exchange or commissary, that allows military families to buy groceries on military bases at significantly lower prices than what civilians can get from traditional grocers. 'Military families buy groceries for 30 to 40% cheaper than what grocery stores in the area sell, simply because they're not taking a full wholesale and retail markup like a lot of stores are,' said Errol Schweitzer, a grocery store veteran and former VP at Whole Foods, who has written about the commissary model before. According to Bill Moore, the former director and CEO of the Defense Commissary Agency, the commissary system saved military families approximately $1.58bn in 2023. Passing along similar benefits to civilians is quite possible, according to Schweitzer. 'It's not a radical proposal,' he said. 'There already is heavy government intervention in the food system every day.' So what would it take practically to make Mamdani's proposal work in NYC? According to Overstreet, the councilmember from Atlanta, community buy-in is key. In her district, Overstreet sought feedback about what kinds of products community members wanted access to, down to the preferred variety of apple. Overstreet and her team did this through roundtables, pop-up meetings, and both paper and online questionnaires to try to reach the widest array of people. Chworow, who researched public food infrastructure over the last century, said that creating a universally useful resource – not one that just serves targeted groups, like low-income families – is also crucial. 'As soon as you start to target the interventions, there's a level of stigma that comes around it, and people are reluctant to use them because they don't want to be associated with the stigmatized group,' Chworow said. 'Promoting it as a universal service removes those barriers, and it also oftentimes makes the economic model better.' Some of how military commissaries – and grocers like Walmart, for that matter – deliver low prices is through economies of scale, using their size and buying power as a network to negotiate lower prices with wholesalers. That could pose a problem to Mamdani's plan, as he's proposed opening just five municipal grocery stores total, one for each borough. But Schweitzer pointed out that the city already buys extraordinary amounts of food for public schools, hospitals and community colleges; by linking the grocery stores to those existing agreements, he noted, they might likewise take advantage of economies of scale that would otherwise be out of reach. Schweitzer, who has written extensively about how to make a public grocery sector work, also recommends looking to successful grocery store chains for cues. Operating like Aldi (which is to say, opening lots of smaller stores with a limited assortment) or Costco (which is to say, operating as a warehouse store; 'literally a distributor that sells to the public'), he said, could help make municipal grocery stores a success. Lastly, noted Caruso, it was worth reminding community members that such an initiative will take time to realize. Overstreet noted that it took her eight years of work to get the new grocery store in her district under way. The historical precedent, efforts in other cities, and parallels with the US commissary system of course don't prove that New York's attempts will be successful. Municipal grocery stores will have to battle many of the same problems that have sunk hundreds of private grocery stores in the city in recent years. But these examples do provide ample evidence that government-run food infrastructure can work, given the right support and proper management. 'It's not to say that anything is easy, but of course it can be done,' said Mullins. 'Just look at these other public options – the post office, public libraries, public schools. These are great things that have been critical parts of communities for a very long time.'
