Bringing in UK developers backed by industry forum

Guernsey's Housing Committee says it is looking to work with a UK developer to help progress some of the island's larger housing projects.

The President of Guernsey's Housing Committee Steve Williams said the States was looking at working with a UK developer to help deliver large housing projects like Leale's Yard.

As demand for housing remains high in the island figures for last year showed 127 homes were built and none were classified as affordable.

The head of Guernsey's Construction Industry Forum John Bampkin said the local sector was only capable of building about 200 homes a year and he backed the idea of using UK contractors for large projects.

He said it would not affect the local industry as it "can't build four or five hundred houses a year".

Bampkin said the States partnering with a developer would be a good "first step" towards getting larger developments built.

He said: "We believe we can we can build about 200 at a push, with a lot more of the affordable smaller units being built within that.

"They (the States) need to find somebody to partner with that will agree to actually deliver these houses for the States, but the States are going to have to invest in some way into that."

Bampkin said the condition of sites already purchased by the States for housing was affecting the amount being built.

"If you look at most of the sites that have been earmarked or multiple units to be built on them, they have a lot of work to be done before they are financially viable," he said.

"The sites need to be cleared of a lot of topsoil, in some cases we're talking down to 300mm, 12 inches, some of it's further than that.

"That costs hundreds of thousands of pounds to do, so certainly the sites that the states have bought for multiple occupancy are not in that position yet, so the states need to make a decision.

"They've invested all this money in these sites, they need to spend more money to make them more financially viable if they want private developers to take the risk and do all that work."

Follow BBC Guernsey on X and Facebook and Instagram. Send your story ideas to channel.islands@bbc.co.uk.