Government inspectors have concluded that the Isle of Wight Council’s proposed housing target of 453 dwellings per year is not sound and must be increased to at least 703 dwellings annually, prompting questions about the future of the Island Planning Strategy (IPS).
The Planning Inspectorate, following public examination hearings held earlier this year, has expressed serious concerns with the council’s current draft IPS and offers 2 paths forward: carry out substantial revisions within just 6 months, or withdraw the plan entirely and start again using new national policy guidelines, which would push the housing requirement to around 1,100 dwellings per annum.
The Council had sought to justify the reduced housing figure based on historical delivery rates and local development constraints. However, inspectors have found no exceptional circumstances to support such a reduction. They argue that continuing with a lower figure would risk prolonging the under-supply of housing and constrain economic growth on the Isle of Wight.
In a letter to the Council, dated 11th April, inspectors said:
“The proposed housing requirement of 453 dwellings per annum would not be justified, effective, positively prepared or consistent with national planning policy. The housing requirement should be, as a minimum, the identified housing need figure of 703 dwellings per annum.”
One possible way forward for the Isle of Wight Council is to proceed with a shorter-term strategy that meets the 703dpa figure over the next 5 years. This would involve identifying additional housing land to make up a current shortfall of 394 homes and potentially preparing a Site Allocations Plan for the medium term.
If the council opts not to carry out the necessary work, it would need to withdraw the plan and restart under the latest planning framework. This would increase the housing requirement to around 1,100 dwellings per annum – nearly 2.5x higher than what is currently proposed.
Other key concerns raised by the inspectors include shortcomings in the Sustainability Appraisal process, which they say lacks transparency in how alternative sites and strategies were assessed. Policy C11, which mandates net zero carbon standards for all new housing, has also been criticised for going beyond national guidance without sufficient evidence to demonstrate viability.
The inspectors have expressed doubt over whether the existing viability assessment accurately reflects the financial realities of delivering the IPS, pointing out that it is now outdated and may underestimate costs, particularly in lower-value areas.
Additionally, the proposed 50m buffer zone for ancient woodland in Policy EV5 has been deemed excessive, with a recommendation to reduce it to a more proportionate 15m in line with advice from Natural England and the Forestry Commission.
Ollie Boulter, the council’s strategic manager for planning and infrastructure delivery, has said:
“We understand the urgency and importance of addressing these housing figures.
“The council is committed to finding a solution that meets the needs of our community while adhering to the inspectors’ recommendations.
“We recognise the pressing need to resolve these housing issues. Our goal is to find a viable solution that balances the Island’s housing needs with regulatory requirements, ensuring sustainable development and meeting the growing demand and need for housing on the Isle of Wight.”
A full council decision will be required on how best to proceed, but a date is yet to be set. The Isle of Wight Council has until 9th June to respond to the Government’s findings.
Joe Robertson, Isle of Wight East MP, has told Island Echo:
“The Island Planning Strategy went through a lengthy consultation process locally, and our Council submitted a version, which commanded the broadest support possible. To be now told by the Planning Inspectorate in Bristol that we must almost double the average number of homes we build annually to 703, flies in the face of local democracy and is simply unworkable.
“My bigger concern is that the Government wants a Combined Mayor with Hampshire to take powers from our Council for Planning Strategy and deliver an even greater number of homes, over 1,000 a year. The natural beauty of our Island and independent local decision-making are under serious threat. That is why I am saying no to a Hampshire-based Mayor without Island residents having a say first.”
Richard Quigley, Isle of Wight West MP, has said:
“As ever, the devil is in the detail and not the headlines. Whilst the current plan has not been accepted by government inspectors, the increase in planning target of 250 to 703 annually, actually translates to an increase of 394 homes over the full term of the Island plan. This equates to around and extra 33 homes a year. This is thanks to the hard work the planners have already put into the existing plan and creating a planning pipeline for the homes desperately needed by Islanders.
“We are all fully aware of the lack of affordable and social homes on the Island; Approximately 2400 households are on the current housing waiting list. We can’t continue to pretend we don’t need to build more homes”.
NO MORE homes on the Isle of Wight, the Island is full. Put them around the MPs homes.
Is that because you think all MPs live in somewhere like Brook House, with miles of uninhabited countryside around it?
If they are planning on more property then they must take into account the additional GP’s, dentists and schools required for the huge population increase. Not taking into account farming, agriculture and our roads not coping with high levels of traffic. We will become a concrete jungle.Our council care for nothing more than their pockets.
The planning strategies all over the country are not being done to line council’s pockets, they are being done to house people. There will be no instant huge population increase; the people who need them are already here! There are 2400 FAMILIES on the waiting list alone, aside from those who can’t move out of parents homes because there is a shortage of housing, or who are living in unsuitable accommodation, or who are in B and B, or who are sofa surfing, or physically homeless and living on the streets.
453 not enough? It is far too many! The island needs infrastructure, repair, jobs, hospital’s etc etc. Politicians are idiotic beyond belief.
There are not enough persons needing properties
on the island.
My guess is they will build the homes and move
families into them from the mainland.
I don’t know where the jobs are coming from
I can only imagine they will be benefit families.
Yet another example of a government that have no knowledge of, or empathy for the people and the environment of this Island.
The Islands economy depends heavily on its beauty and all this government want to do is concrete all over it.
We also have a road system and an hospital that cannot cope now with the demands placed upon it. Without money spent on these sectors first, plus GPs and dentists, schools etc there is absolutely no way the Island can cope with these demands.
It would seem we have a Labour government that cares more about its targets than the people of this Island!
Typical bloody quigley, running behind starmers plans like a little sick puppy. Haven’t YOU got the balls to stand up to this ridiculous idea and all of your parties stupidity? Of course not, go sit down on in front of your leader, tail wagging and panting ready for you next meal, Puppy Quigley.
We are an island,or can the dopey government not read a map.
So what happens when we are full?
this place will end up like battleship island in japan soon,no jobs,no infrastructure,no dentists or doctors,only one hospital,and a council tax that just keeps going up.
but saying that,the way starmer is going,he wont last five years.
Starmer will last 5 years because his Elite bosses
won’t let him go anywhere.
Politicians are only paid for puppets, it’s their elite bosses
who are pulling their strings.
That planning strategy started life in 2012. It went through numerous versions and never got going under Seely or his Conservative-led councils. It became outdated, and the ‘public consultation’ was aimed at a) the few who bothered to read it and digest, and b) those with a vested interest other than the needs of the population as a whole.
Without the time and resources in the last year to re-research and chew over the data it has been submitted and is obviously now outdated. The general ethos remains the same but the figures are old and the priorities have also slightly changed. The need for homes is now more pressing than it was in 2012.
JR would do well to acknowledge two things; that the island STILL has a far lower population density than than the UK average, and that Central and West Wight is lower still. While he’s grudgingly accepting those facts, he might also adjust his concerns away from terror of a mayor who might render him as ‘other’, and towards the fact he appears to have no compassion for the people he’s supposed to be representing. We need more homes that an outdated token gesture.
As said, it’s all in the details Joe, not the spin or the soundbites.
We DO need more housing.
The issue is the lack of sufficient brownfield sites.
There is also a lack of commercial ‘nuace’ within the Council, or a set of cohones within our local politicans.
The Sandham High site and the Broadleigh Primary sites have sat empty and over priced for decades. They are massaging the ‘site’ as a Retirement village. In reality BOTH neighbour existing Social housing.
The council should donate the Sandham site to a Social housing group and make it have the same density as nearby Downsview.
But they won’t
Instead they complain they are seeking the kind of value only achievable by 4 bed detached exec homes costing £450,000 in the most rundown parts of the island where they are not needed.
The issue is Pensioners moved here in 1974 and don’t like change. pensioners vote. Un/under employed youth and harrassed single mothers do not.
I notice the lack of developing on either site is not being mentioned by any of the candidates in the Lake North election – despite BOTH being in the ward.
The island doesn’t need much new housing.
I wonder what the waiting list for homes is!
Unless they are being built to house persons on benefits,
there are enough private homes for sale on rightmove
many of which are not selling, some have been up for
sales for years.
All this when the island is getting smaller
Refugees are going to the top of the list which is so unfair, We are all given the same chances, some of us choose to work & pay our bills accordingly but other people rely on handouts. WHEN will we realise that the real effects of this overcrowding are going to suck the life out of this Island, just look at the traffic!!!!!’
Only a matter of time before the Council
charge motorists a congestion charge to
drive through Newport.
This is without doubt the worst government I have ever known, where do they think we are going to put 750 homes a year, shall we just build on all the farms and be done with it, don’t we get a say how many houses we can comfortably build without making it look like a city.
Doesn’t matter which party is in power,
they all work for their same Elite bosses.
Reform will be no different.
There will be plenty of homes if they stop recruiting from abroad. Not only are they all able to find somewhere to live but all the families are brought over as well . And for some reason they seem to have priority.
Which leaves islanders struggling to find somewhere to live in addition all those trying to step out on their own for the first time.
Sort that out and you’ll start to see more properties released.
The numbers of migrants coming to our shores
is much more since Brexit.
“Brexit didn’t achieve anything”
The UK population is at boiling point, yet they
keep coming.
How shallow and unfocussed are these so-called experts? This is an island full of empty holiday homes. Rightmove shows us that island properties aren’t selling. We don’t have the infrastructure to support more homes, not enough doctors, dentists, jobs, etc. There is definitely an imbalance but building a specified number of more unaffordable homes will never be the answer. This is an island economy and the usual rules simply don’t apply.
The unpleasant fact is that this government and previous governments have absolutely no interest in preserving our green and pleasant land. On the contrary, their policies have been to do quite the reverse. These people act more like an occupying force than representatives of the people. Beautiful places such as the Island where the economy relies on lovely scenery are, I believe, special targets to be ruined by people, best described as traitors. They probably see the Island as somewhere to dump the invaders being escorted across the Channel by the once revered RNLI and Border Farce. As for Brexit, they have never let us have it.