Environment and Planning

Priorities

On 9 April 2024 the Council of Ministers published its Proposed Common Strategic Policy 2022 - 2024 . This set out 12 priorities for delivery in the next two years. They include –

Deliver a plan to revitalise Town

There is an urgent need to provide town residents with the infrastructure they require, including schools and youth facilities, to enhance public spaces, and to make Town more accessible and easier to visit for walkers and cyclists. There is also a need to revitalise the Town markets to support retail vitality and vibrancy.

We will deliver a plan to revitalise Town. This will ensure Islanders benefit from the delivery of new homes, improvements to the Central Market and the Fish Market, enhancements to public spaces that support cycling and walking, and a new plan for public parking, all whilst protecting and enhancing St Helier’s unique character.

Planning for a vibrant Town Centre is critical to the sustainable development of the Island, and will give us the vision for our capital that will continue to provide land and opportunities to meet most of the Island’s future development needs.

Reform the planning service to get Jersey building

A more efficient, effective, and better value planning system is of fundamental importance to meet the community’s development needs and to deliver the Government’s priorities.

We will reform our planning service to get Jersey building. Changes will include developing and introducing a fast-track service process for minor applications and improving customer service throughout. We will also deliver improved planning guidance and explore the relaxation of planning control to enable Islanders to undertake more work without the need for planning permission.

Success in this priority will increase the efficiency and effectiveness of the planning service, as well as customer satisfaction, and ensure we support the efficient delivery of housing and other developments and provide increased certainty to developers alongside a better service to Islanders.

The chapter for the Minister for the Environment in the Ministerial plans for 2024, published on 19 September 2023, set out six priorities -

1. Tackling the climate emergency by reducing Jersey’s carbon emissions in line with our net-zero target and improve our resilience to the impacts of climate change.

2. Protecting and enhancing Jersey’s natural environment and heritage by:

• extending protection of the Island’s rich geodiversity to ensure that geo-heritage assets are valued and appreciated
• continuing to designate conservation areas to protect and improve the architectural and historic character and appearance of these special places
• continuing to develop our understanding of the Island’s archaeological heritage and ensuring its appropriate consideration and protection
• developing a marine spatial plan to ensure the sustainable management of the Island’s marine environment, and bringing forward proposals to develop a marine park
• better protecting biodiversity • through new legislation and planning
  policies; exploring the introduction of biodiversity net gain; and progressing strategic workstreams to address biodiversity loss (including trees)
• working with the Minister for Infrastructure to bring forward legislation to ban disposable vapes

3. Ensuring the delivery of the homes and infrastructure that are essential to economic prosperity and Islanders’ wellbeing; and enhance the quality of places in the Island, by:

• beginning to prepare the evidence base for the next island plan, to include understanding the need for homes and key infrastructure
• working to explore the introduction of a development levy for the Island
• implementing a licensing scheme to regulate rental properties to ensure minimum standards in rental dwellings are maintained
• progressing the development of a long-term Island-wide water strategy, and undertake a review of the Water (Jersey) Law 1972 in line with the objectives following the development of the water strategy

4. Promoting flexibility, responsiveness, and efficiencies in the way that we work to best meet the needs of our customers by:

• ensuring the planning system is responsive to key priorities; and reviewing the form of the Island Plan and the process by which it is revised to ensure that it is fit-for-purpose, accessible and of more relevance to islanders
• continuing to review, develop and publish planning guidance that better supports the planning service and helps to deliver the Island Plan

5. Improving value for money in the delivery of our public services

6. Improving the performance of departments and services.

Bridging Island Plan

The Bridging Island Plan 2022-25 is the current key planning document. The Government website states -

The Island Plan is hugely important for Jersey. It sets out how, as a community, we'll:

• create homes
• strengthen our economy
• protect and improve our environment
• provide for a good quality of life
• enhance what’s special about our island

Under Jersey’s plan-led system, it’s the primary consideration in any planning-related decision making.

The policies of the Island Plan have been carefully formulated to achieve the sustainable development of the island with a balance between social, environmental, and economic considerations.

This plan is formed of 4 volumes [introduction and strategic proposals, strategic policies, managing development and performance and delivery]. Each volume is broken into chapters which share a common theme and address a set of issues through a series of policies and proposals. The policies do not stand in isolation and should be read together, with other relevant policies and the proposals. Each of the policies in the plan is supported by a written justification that explains the considerations that have applied in developing the policy and how it should be used.

Review of how planning decisions are made

On 23 January 2023 the Government commissioned Jim MacKinnon CBE, former Chief Planner to the Scottish Government to conduct an external review of how planning decisions are made.

The Review of Planning for the Government of Jersey was duly published on 13 May 2023.

The report does not have a summary of the analysis. Following are some of the significant comments –

• There is no comprehensive data on the performance of the Planning Applications Team in Jersey. The deficiencies in the IT systems are largely at the root of this. From the information that is available it is, however, clear that targets for dealing with pre- application advice, validation and determination of applications are not being met and by an increasing margin.
• A common theme from stakeholder sessions related to the difficulties in contacting planners with some less accessible and more reluctant to engage than others. There is no statement of the quality of customer service that applicants, agents and those wishing to make representations should expect to receive.
• There is no Business Plan for the Planning Service with a clear indication of what must be done, by whom and by when.
• The process for validating and registering applications is totally unfit for purpose and is a major cause of dissatisfaction with the way that planning applications are determined.

The Report made 17 recommendations, the top one of which is to –

• Introduce efficient, effective, and sustainable processes for validating and registering planning applications.

The Minister published his response Review of Planning Services (2023) on the same day. He has accepted the recommendations in full –

There is a lot of background noise in politics, but one of the clearest messages to emerge from the last election was a desire for a government that focused on delivery, particularly delivery of new homes. This requires a planning system that works efficiently for the whole island. That is why in my ministerial priorities I identified the importance of a planning system that is responsive to the government’s key priorities, including the delivery of new homes, responding to the climate emergency and protecting the natural and built environment.

There are always tensions between the need for more housing and policies designed to protect the environment. However, quite separate from these normal tensions, the island has the right to expect a planning service that is efficient, consistent and delivering high standards of customer service.

Currently we are falling short. There are a variety of reasons for this, but rather than focus on the past, I want to focus on the future. In order to drive change fast and effectively, I decided that an outside review - conducted by someone with considerable knowledge and experience of planning services - would offer a quick route to improvement.

Mr MacKinnon has produced a report with a clear-eyed analysis and practical, easily understood recommendations. I am happy to accept the recommendations in full.

On 8 January 2024 the Government published Improvement Plan Update for Planning services. The report includes some key statistics for 2023 –

• 1,164 planning applications were determined, of which 75% were approved
• 81% of minor planning applications were determined within Planning Service' target of 8 weeks or an alternatively agreed period
• 62% of major planning applications were determined within Planning Service' target of 13 weeks or an alternatively agreed period
• 79% of live applications referred to the Planning Committee for a decision agreed with the Planning Service's recommendation

In the press release on the report the Minister for the Environment, Deputy Jonathan Renouf, said –

The final quarterly update of 2023 shows improvement in several areas of Planning Services. Most of the recommendations in the MacKinnon Report have been implemented on time, or even ahead of schedule, reflecting our commitment to promote flexibility, responsiveness, and collaboration in the planning system.

Over this last quarter, we have been particularly focusing on building relationships with the industry to ensure a collaborative approach, as outlined in the Improvement Plan. Additionally, a combined effort by Technical Support Officers and Planning Officers meant the teams were able to clear the backlog of applications awaiting validation.

The recruitment for more Technical Support Officers in Planning Services over the next couple months will help to consolidate better performance in validation and registration.

While acknowledging the positives, I know a lot more still needs to be done, particularly to speed up the processing of applications. I have set an ambitious timescale for the transformation of Planning Services, and I am committed to delivering this to ensure the best service possible for Islanders. ​

As part of my commitment to continuous improvement, and to ensure full transparency, I will be welcoming Jim Mackinnon back in February to review progress over the last year. It is important to have independent analysis to ensure that Islanders can see where we are making progress, and where progress is still needed.

On 5 April 2024 the Government published a Progress report on review of planning services, by Jim MacKinnon CBE. Key points included –

• In 2023 only 62% of major planning applications were decided within the 13-week target.
• The proportion of planning applications refused has increased from 12% in 2014 to 23% in 2023.
• The Planning Committee was increasingly likely to refuse applications and less likely to take a decision in accordance with planning officials' advice. At a recent meeting of the Committee, 4 out of 9 decisions on Applications and 3 of the 5 decisions on Reviews were made contrary to recommendations.
• The situation with regard to staffing numbers and turnover among senior planners remains challenging, arguably more so compared with the period when last year’s Review was conducted.
• Senior officers all recognised that while progress is being made there are still challenges ahead to deliver a high performing and respected Planning Service. Staff turnover and filling vacancies continue to be highly problematic while the improved computer systems is behind schedule and requiring additional financial resources. Developing the improved system should bring benefits but requires a sustained input from Planning and Technical Support Staff.
• The depth of frustration with the Service among developers was clear.
• Architects although less forceful in their comments had similar concerns. There was a feeling that the Planning Service lacked leadership and the organisational split between planning policy and decision making was not helpful.
• In a media interview with the former Minister for the Environment in January 2024 he indicated that there had been progress in some areas but more still needs to be done. That is a fair summary but there is more to be done than had been expected almost a year on from the publication of the original review.
• Significant issues need to be addressed –

o Perceived lack of leadership.

o Increase of 20% in applications awaiting determination in the last 12 months.

o Failure to consult the customers on the introduction of the validation matrix.

o Continued difficulties on contacting planners either by e-mail or phone with particular concerns over late no response.

o Challenges over the application and interpretation of policies and the bridging island plan.

• In summary, there have been some encouraging signs in the past year but progress on increasing the speed of decision making has some way to go and moving towards a more responsive service is considerably behind expectations.
• Demonstrable improvements to the planning service require a substantial sustained commitment to continuous service improvements through behaviours and actions.

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