Monday 30 March 2015
The Environment Department is notifying the public and businesses regarding revisions to Town parking that have now been agreed or agreed on an interim basis[1] to facilitate the decision to relocate the cruise ship tender landing point to the eastern end of the Albert Pier.
The agreement is for the parking changes to be put in place for cruise ships visiting within the period 15 March to 15 October and more limited parking changes if a very small liner, e.g. 100 passengers is visiting. The permission is based on Guernsey Harbours providing additional parking on their land during the cruise ship season to mitigate as far as is practical the removal of the parking towards the south eastern corner of the Albert Pier and the angled parking on the landward side of the bus terminus.
The Department has also agreed the parking changes on the basis that 15 parking spaces being used for cruise liner passenger handling purposes at the Albert Pier being given back to public parking on non-cruise liner days. The same arrangement is required as part of an interim permission* for the 22 angled parking spaces on the landward side of the bus terminus.
The agreed scheme will result in a total of 11 public parking spaces being lost on cruise liner days, 13 spaces gained during very small liner visits and 28 spaces gained on non- cruise liner days.
Motorists are advised to check signing carefully if parking in the vicinity of the Bus Terminus, at South Esplanade (Havelet side) or on the southern side of the Albert Pier as permitted time limits or type of vehicle that is able to park will change during the cruise ship season (commencing at 18:00 Monday 30 March).
A spokesperson for the Department advised "A public consultation exercise was carried out before agreeing the changes and the Department took time to consider the responses it had received. It also requested further information from the Public Services Department (Harbours) concerning Health and Safety issues and pedestrian flow modelling. This information has now been received and considered by the Board."
The spokesperson went on to say "There has been much interest in the Public Services Department's decision to relocate the cruise passenger landing point and there has been a difficult decision for the Department to make in terms of parking arrangements because there are so many competing interests and requirements. The Department has had to for example, consider issues such as health and safety matters, interests of Town businesses, diversification of the economy and visitor experience.
The cross Departmental group that have been working on this project believes that what will be in place on 31 March represents phase one of the arrangements but refinements and reviews in light of experience will be essential during the season and for the future to make this work for Guernsey."
Copies of the original plans indicating the parking changes can be found at the bottom of the document download section at www.gov.gg/traveltraffictransport. Please be advised that these plans have not yet been updated to indicate that the 22 angled spaces on the landward side of the bus terminus and the 15 spaces on the southern side of the Albert Pier will swap between cruise ship related uses and short term parking depending on whether a liner is visiting. However, the attached information notice summarises the key changes that will be taking place.
For further information or clarification please contact Jan Bailey on tel. 717200 in the first instance.
[1] Interim Permission - The Department undertook a public consultation exercise which ended on 16th February based on parking being given over to cruise liner uses for the whole cruise ship season. One of the areas included in the consultation was changing 22 angled parking spaces on the landward side of the terminus to coach parking. This resulted in concerns being raised by businesses in the area about negative impact on them. The Department has some sympathy with the concerns and has agreed in principle for the spaces to be given back to public parking on non-cruise liner days. However, there is a legal requirement to re-consult on this aspect of the proposals and a notice is being published in La Gazette to follow this process. The Department would welcome further submissions from interested parties. In the interim period the Department is able to make temporary signing changes to facilitate cruise liner visits.
