Two members of the Health Committee say building nurses flats on the Vauquiedor field is necessary to support existing and future staff.

Policy and Resources' application has faced criticism from a number of States members, who are writing objections to the Planning department.

The planning application is for 66 flats on the field that sits in the valley at the Vauquiedor entrance to the PEH.  It includes:

• A cycle shelter which will hold 50 bikes,
• Between 70 to 120 car parking spaces,
• 10 disabled parking spaces,
• And 20 motorbike spaces.

La Societe Guernesiaise President, Roy Bisson, recently called the plans 'a disgrace'.

HSC Committee President Deputy Al Brouard says he finds it 'vexing' that this field is singled out by objectors when many other planning applications aren't.

"The field on the PEH campus identified for key-worker housing was always destined to become part of the PEH infrastructure at some point – be it clinical/operational areas, office accommodation or key worker housing."

He says recruitment and retention of staff is made worse by a problem with the suitability and availability of housing.

HSC says there is a waiting list of 100 for alternative accommodation provided by the committee.

Deputy Mark Leadbeater says the demand is for housing that is as close as possible to the hospital.

"The vast majority of staff, when requesting staff accommodation, stipulate that they wish to be as close to their workplace as possible. Whilst it is difficult to believe on an island the size of Guernsey, staff do frequently raise concerns about the length of commute from home to work which are valid if they do not have their own transport as shift times do not always align with bus timetables and routes.

Accommodation which is two miles from your workplace may not seem an issue, but if you are on-call it can make a great deal of difference and walking home in the dark at the end of a shift with limited street lighting and no buses really brings location into focus.

Pressure on HSC for staff accommodation has increased significantly over the last 12-18 months and this is impacting on service delivery.

Our professional recruitment team is reporting that recruitment agencies used by HSC to source permanent staff identify that they are no longer referring applicants to Guernsey, in the knowledge that they will not be able to access suitable accommodation should they be successful."

People can write to Planning with their views until 10 January.

Several politicians have already expressed their opposition:

I have submitted my formal representation to the Development & Planning Authority objecting to the application to build key worker housing on the "Bordage Seath" field at the PEH. One week to go if anybody else wishes to make a representation on the planning policy issues.

— Steve Falla (@steve_falla) January 3, 2023

A media release from (a majority of) HSC.

No one is saying we don’t need key-worker housing.

But I am arguing that it does not need to be built on a virgin field.

/1 pic.twitter.com/rMINbIbbGX

— Yvonne Burford (@YvonneBurford) January 3, 2023

Big Yellow Taxi as, you would not believe it, our Government want to pave paradise and put up a parking lot. This is the site in question. The tree is proposed to be surrounded by a car park. You couldn’t make it up. pic.twitter.com/H5CQG8ivq1

— Deputy Heidi Soulsby MBE (@HeidiSoulsby) December 30, 2022