New supermarket plans dropped after States buys Leale's Yard

The Co-op's impression of Leale's Yard from 2018

Co-op CEO Mark Cox made this clear in an interview with the Guernsey Press, saying that it had now ruled out having any retail presence in the future development. This also suggests plans for a multi-storey car park for the area have also been dropped.

Mr Cox said, however, that the £4.5m it has sold Leale's Yard for will be reinvested in its current stores. "We're well into the planning for a refurbishment in St Martin's, and Nocq Road [St Sampson's] will then follow quickly. We'd like to see work start on St Martin's next year and then Nocq Road the year after," he was quoted as saying.

Meanwhile, in a separate article, the newspaper reports today that the Guernsey Development Agency estimates it could take 20 years for its own vision of the Bridge to be realised – and that's dependent on it being granted land in the area and £10m being spent to moving the oil storage tanks from North Side.

New homes
Its plans include hundreds of new homes built at Griffith's Yard, a new "blue" economy hub at Longue Hougue and a road bridge over St Sampson's Harbour to divert traffic away from the Bridge itself. 

Moving the oil tanks is essential, however, to remove the blast zone restrictions already in place on new development.

New Policy and Resources president Lindsay de Sausmarez said the whole area had really suffered from a lack of investment over the last couple of decades.

"And a lot of that comes down to the question marks that have been hovering over Leale's Yard, and that not moving forward has been a constraint on the wider areas. 'We are confident that Leale's Yard development will unlock investment in the surrounding area as well," she said. 

• The GDA plans also include flood defences that would be installed across the mouth of the harbour.