No Homes In Place Of Derelict Glasshouses

A proposal to build affordable homes in place of derelict or redundant glasshouses has been rejected.

Senator Kristina Moore said the homes should take up no more than 50% of a site and be in close proximity to 'existing settlements and utility services'.

The former Home Affairs Minister described the derelict glasshouses as 'a dangerous eyesore that blot many corners of our beautiful island'.

"I'm not asking that every derelict commercial glasshouse site in the island is now offered potential for housing.

The definition, I think, is clear in the proposition that those sites should be close to existing settlements and the necessary services.

So I hope this actually will be seen as what it is. An attempt to deliver more housing, (and) remove some of the dangerous eyesores that we have around the island."

Reform Deputies Montfort Tadier and Rob Ward raised concerns about food security, with Deputy Tadier saying more should be done to get the glasshouses back in use - comparing it to his upcoming proposition to get empty properties into use.

Senator Moore claimed in her opening speech that the Environment Department didn't consider these potential sites, something she called 'a hole in their preparation.'

Assistant Environment Minister Deputy Gregory Guida disputed that and says they were considered as part of the call for potential housing sites from the public early in the process.

"The original list included quite a lot of greenhouses. Of course, the first part of the assessment was 'is it a brown site?' Because if it's a brown site, then we don't have a problem. We're going to jump on it and put bricks on it immediately.

Greenhouses are not brown sites, but they're probably in the beige category - they're the next best thing. When we went through this very scrupulous assessment, none of the greenhouses survived.

Basically, none of the sites that we got in our list were good enough compared to other sites. Most of them were green sites, so they really had t0o be bad to fail in so many instances to fail this selection."

Senator Sarah Ferguson says she knows young farmers who want to rent unused glasshouses, but the people who own them are insisting on rents based on the development value of the glasshouse, rather than the agricultural value.

Deputy Lindsay Ash says he thinks it will lead to more development in St Clement 'by the backdoor' - adding it was a case of 'those in glasshouses being encouraged to throw stones'.

"Part of government should be to drive good behaviours and this does nothing to drive good behaviours.

This effectively says let your greenhouse get into a terrible state of repair and then cash in to the tune of several million pounds."

Senator Sam Mezec says while it was proposed with good intentions, any policy on the use of glasshouse sites should be done 'on a more considered basis' - with a focus on how to get best use out of them.

The Constable of St John, Andy Jehan, says this appears to be too good to be true.

"We've heard from many speakers about the issues of derelict houses. Where is the enforcement?

If we need to invest in the enforcement, let's invest in the enforcement and let's get these sites working for us either with the current scheme that could allow some to be turned into accommodation to fund returning them (into use).

But let's get on with the enforcement and let's do it soon."

Senator Moore's amendment to the Bridging Island Plan was rejected by 26 votes to 19.

Really disappointed that 26 voted against this plan to resolve the dangerous eyesores of some derelict glasshouses by building affordable homes & growing local produce. At its its heart this debate is about real people who will feel the positive or negative effects of decisions https://t.co/HnBn6IhW0q

— Kristina Moore (@Moore4Jersey) March 16, 2022

The debate on the plan now shifts focus to how many houses should be built by the end of 2025 and where they should be built.

Several hours of discussion are expected on what green spaces to build on.