'91% Back Leale's Yard Development'

The Co-op says 91% of people who responded to a questionnaire liked its plans for more than 300 homes at Leale's Yard.

An outline planning application has been submitted for 338 new homes, a supermarket and a 300 space multi-storey car park.

It is now available to few of the States of Guernsey planning website.

More than 700 islanders took part in a consultation held in April, with more than 600 either responding to the questionnaire or going to the drop-in exhibition.

The society says 50% of respondents to the questionnaire came from within Vale or St Sampson, and their approval rating for the scheme was almost 95%.

Co-op Chief Exec Mark Cox has encouraged even people to comment on the plans.

"...the vision for the development is to deliver a community-led scheme that will create a better place to live for residents, a better place to shop for our customers, a better place to work for our colleagues, and a better public realm for the community.

We assure that this fantastic feedback will be used to influence and realise this vision.

“...the COOP would like to further encourage everyone with an interest to register and comment on the plans online, via the States of Guernsey planning portal.

We want the Island’s authorities to know that the overwhelming majority of Islanders support and like the scheme, and want to see new homes, new businesses, and a new community established. We want the Island’s planners to have the confidence to progress the scheme, to know it’s not a ‘leap of faith’ in approving the scheme but the wishes and the will of Islanders to see progress.”

The Channel Islands Co-operative Society has owned the site in St Sampsons for more than 20 years but none of its previous plans have been pursued.

The retailer wants to demolish all of the derelict industrial buildings on the brownfield site and create new access.

Leale's Yard as it appears today

When the plans were first announced in April, Co-op CEO Mark Cox said the plans will bring a wealth of benefits to people and businesses in St Sampson's and more widely to Guernsey.

“We have taken both our experiences gained thus far and the requirements of the Development Framework and developed plans for a ‘community-led’ development that, when completed, will be a real destination place for islanders.”

We look forward to achieving a positive outcome from this application, and are confident that, when approved and developed, it will be fantastic for The Bridge area and beyond.”

The Leale’s Yard application is reference OP/2022/0761 and the deadline for comments is 8 July.