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Planners give go-ahead for new block at Saye Campsite

"Yes" to a wet weather and laundry room; "no" to warden's accommodation.

That was the verdict at this week's Building Development and Control Committee after months of deliberation on a new development proposed for Saye Campsite.

The planned build has proved enduringly controversial. Not only is it on green belt land zoned for recreation - where there is a presumption of no new development - but also because the States is footing the bill for it. The wet weather room will cost around £50,000, which along with the £9,000 cost for revamping the shop and café, and the already installed toilet and shower blocks, will bring the spend on Saye Campsite up to around £270,000.

Paul and Steph Hayward, the campsite operators, have been at the centre of the storm. They are bemused by the vacillations over development because the States accepted their business plan - including static warden's accommodation - from early on in their employment. For the second year in a row the couple have been permitted to bring their mobile home to the island in order to maintain a 24 hour presence at the site. They now hope to use it again when the site opens next year.

"We are very, very pleased that the campsite is to get the wet weather room as it was central to our business plans," said Steph, who with her husband will spend winter in Alderney while they look for a house. "Of course we are disappointed that warden's accommodation was not granted and we will have to rethink some things, like the fact it was going to be an office as well. But as long as we have somewhere on site to stay, we will carry on. We are committed to this business."

The 15x6 metre approved new building will have three sections: a washing up and food preparation area plus laundry room, a wet weather "refuge" and a store for camping equipment. It will sit on the hard standing facing the campsite where a shipping container used to be. The shop and café building will house toilets for customers and contain a room for shop stores. But there are no concrete plans to extend provision at the shop. "We don't want to create a mini supermarket," said Steph.

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