Calls to increase minimum size of Jersey's smallest new-build homes by 10%

Jersey's smallest one and two-bedroom homes may no longer be built in future if new standards proposed by a St Helier politician are approved.

Deputy Tom Coles has put forward a proposition calling for the minimum size of one and two-bedroom apartments to be increased by 10% and occupancy criteria to be abolished.

The island's current law has been in place since 1994, requiring developers to ensure newly built homes are a certain size depending on how many bedrooms they have and how many people are intended to live there.

Deputy Coles says the standards "have not been comprehensively reviewed" since they were introduced, and he is "disappointed" new guidance proposed by the Housing Minister still allows for the smallest one and two-bedroom homes to be built.

If States Members agree, the island's planning guidance will be updated to increase the minimum size requirements and remove the distinction between homes intended to be occupied by one or more people.

Under the existing law, one-bedroom homes intended to be lived in by one person only need to be 33m² while one-bedroom homes built for two occupants are supposed to be at least 49m².

The Deputy added: "Jersey currently has no regulations to demonstrate, or indeed enforce, maximum occupancy for either rental or sale properties and, therefore, overcrowding of homes can and does easily occur.

"This can impact on many factors of people’s lives including their wellbeing, as well as impacting the services, amenities and access of emergency vehicles within developments."

The proposition is due to be debated in the States Assembly in late November 2023.

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