Controversial plans for a housing development in Bembridge have been approved, but only after changes were made to the affordability of some of the proposed properties. 56 houses can now be built on the corner of Steyne Road and Hillway Roade after members of the Isle of Wight Council’s planning committee gave them the thumbs up on Tuesday. More than 600 objections had previously been submitted, calling the scheme ‘wholly unacceptable’ and ‘an overdevelopment of an unsustainable site’. 20 affordable properties – which can be defined as 20% below market value – would still cost around £500,000, said councillors, prompting developer Thornwood Estates IW to agree to increase the discount to 25%. Councillor Geoff Brodie proposed 16 of the 20 houses should be ‘socially rented’, to make then even more achievable. At a final vote, 6 councillors were in favour of the application with 2 against and 2 abstentions. Councillor Chris Quirk, who voted against the development, said even with the affordable discounts the properties would only be available to poorer people by Bembridge standards – those ‘on a mere £150,000 a year’. He said it was difficult to see how the plan would deliver genuinely affordable houses to benefit of young Islanders.
56 NEW HOMES IN BEMBRIDGE GIVEN THE GO AHEAD BY PLANNING OFFICIALS
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So the “buzzword” for getting them built is the A word, like that will happen, affordable to who, where is the measurement to say what is affordable. Easy way out for the greedy developers, and more green fields swallowed up with concrete. Sausage Bob will be proud.
The issue is not so much the developers as the council and the definition of affordable, for someone with no income and relying on state benefits not much is affordable. Any council would be more savvy is saying that all the houses should be open market but we get 20 of the sale price and then we can invest that in buying housing stock on the island for social housing…
Bembridge knows it had to be seen to be ‘suffering’ by having a token gesture allocation of housing development enforced upon the Island by their glorious political party
Whilst being ‘uncaring’ at best, in reality most residents there couldn’t care ‘less’ where huge amounts of social housing is built elsewhere just so long as it’s occupants rarely enter ‘the village’ unless to clean their homes, walk and pick up after their dogs or cut their lawns.
This way the incoming ‘ affordable poor’ will be well heeled and likely better behaved than the new neighbours that the rest of us have to endure.
The 20 social housing occupants will likely be very well ‘vetted’ too.
I dont disagree with the residents views, they live there because it is a low crime and pleasant area, might as well keep all the rough in newport at least the police do not have to travel far to deal with them
One hopes the blacks are not included in the social quota, as they will not feel welcome here and would not wish them to feel social outcasts. Far better in Pan as they have discos and easier fat buttock women there too I hear.
We have a few already, and as can be imagined, the boy of one has caused damage in the village setting fire to things and damaging play equipment. So can only agree no more please, but some make themselves the outcasts by their actions, so can’t just blame the residents if that was your intent.
No social housing ought to be built in affluent areas, for all too often those are the type of people who start to lower property prices, by having untaxed, uninsured cars, who do the most damage to public parks, toilets, and steal from shops, smoke and sell drugs and have children with absent fathers all living on benefit, so home all day, yet rarely sleep alone and have old BMW’s leaking oil over roads and pavements.
There is no fast food outlets for them, and whilst others gardens will be well kempt theirs will be overgrown with a ton of broken plastic children’s toys and trampolines littered about adding to the degradation of those homes others had to work and pay for.
Oakfield would be better suited to such people imo.
Certainly don’t wish more social housing in the village.
People who have bettered themselves in life should not have to live with those who have done little or nothing other than get pregnant by persons unknown, to then ‘claim’ a place at the top of the housing points system to gain a free home.
The very idea that they will ‘somehow’ try to better themselves just by living amongst the better people is ill founded.
All that occurs is these social parasites ruin the entire Island by this ‘social muckspreading’ sociology Labour inspired experiment which has proven to be shown to have failed miserably.
Of course not all are awful, but many are, and to ruin every area on this Island is morally wrong.
PLEASE can Bacon have one for his six cars parked Around St helens Green to help our parking !
It would make very interesting reading to see how many of these homes will be purchased by island residents!
Why on earth would anybody want to live in Bembridge it is just a run down area of the Island
Why isn’t there a cap on house prices on the island.?
Does anybody know exactly how much it costs to build a house today, the ones that go up quickly with a wooden frame with bricks on the outside.? Forget the location, just the build with cheapest double glazing, cheapest bathroom and kitchen, plus labour, architecture and planning etc.
What price are you looking at.? Surely it has to be a maximum of around £200,000.? Add on a 25% profit and sell it for 250. That’s affordable.
It doesn’t really mater. We all can moan as much as we want because this and any other council will do as they please as they know the public will not stand up to them. The builders know they will get away with what ever and the council are too chicken to stand up to the government and the 100% will never stand up for the residents that they work for.
Then we are very lucky to have Bob seely that hasn’t got a clue about much apart from photo shoots and how to suck up to witch ever PM is on the stage
It’s not the building, it’s the land and the shortage of land to build on, that’s what makes homes unaffordable not the smallish mark up, its price of land, not the materials or labour doh
That’s why a field can be worth few thousand but with planning permission given, £ millions..
So,in other words, those that have worked hard, been successful and purchased a higher end property, in a well to do area, are being forced to live near filth, failures and other detritus from society, that do nothing more than beg, steal and burden everyone with their presence.
which hand wringing, do gooding imebecile thinks that putting deadbeats near the successful people is a recipe for success. The reality is that deadbeats, bring the house prices down, they lower the tone of the area and filth attracts filth.
Spot on comment, and although the truth is unpopular, what you say is correct.
Too many women think that by having a child they have ‘somehow’ gained a right to a free home, and lucrative payments, just by burdening society with another ‘taker’ to burden the next generation with.
We need this chid-meal ticket cycle to end.
Years ago if you were pregnant, you or the father had to work harder. Now it is an excuse to work less hours or, none at all, and just sponge off the state until the child reaches 12 years old, then they are gently ‘asked’ to work again, so they then have another to ensure the gravy train of free living and rent and c. tax continues all their lives.
Keep them OUT of Bembridge.
exactly upper crust
the most discriminated group of people are those of us who are successful, able bodied and wealthy – we are taxed, taxed and taxed again, so that the slobs can get free housing and everything else free, we are expected to put up with deadbeat s cumbags stealing from our businesses, because they are hungry, we are expected to donate to charity, we are expected to “help” those with disabilities, we are expected to accept deadbeats moving in near us and what do we get in return from all these freeloading, jealous, deadbeats – nothing, apart from more abuse, more jealousy and more demands that we be impoverished further, because they are too stupid and lazy to enrich themselves.
govts are no better – thieves.
Trouble is the biggest filth is in government right now, corrupt as f**k. Never mind they will be gone soon and the “filth” as you call it, will take over.
we don’t want “affordable” , we want “reassuringly expensive” as it keeps the dross out.
How can elected Councillors be allowed to”abstain”? From such an important vote.. And who on the waiting list for a home on the Island even at the genourously discounted “not”! Price afford anywhere near those asking prices on The Island? So not Island homes for Island people good to see Captiva still manage to grease palms and not allow the “good folk of Bembridge to have any real Islanders desparate for houses in their enclave! Common folk” now that just would not do”Captiva must order their Brown envelopes by the truckload!.
We’ve heard this all before. New housing being a loud to be built. Only months or years later. It’s all been withdrawn. I’ve now lost count how many times this type of housing has been given the go ahead. Unless it’s actually bring built will I believe that it’d actually true. The island desperately needs affordable house and reading stories like this is not helping. And the culture of NIMBYS doesn’t exactly help either. If there isn’t a genuine reason why these houses shouldn’t be built then fair enough. But strangeling the island economy is this way is not helping for the long term future of the Isle of Wight.
So 56 houses will generate minimum 112 people extra for Dentists & Doctors any suggestions where they go !!! The Councillors who voted for it are hoping to generate extra Council Tax but you can bet they don’t live there. The lack of a planning strategy has the developers having a greenfield day ! This week alone over 200 homes for Horsebridge Hill approved, I am seriously worried about being overcrowded & the problems that subsequently arise from this. I was bought up on the Island but for the first time considering maybe it’s time to go.
Where are they going to go to Dentists & Doctors all these extra people ? The disruption for the 9 houses already with road closures, flooding & to the extent that we call it Steyne Marina !!!
Perhaps the tenants from the new social housing being built may volunteer to join Bembridge Fire Service.
As despite being the largest (or was) village in England, it is most telling that there is not enough residents willing to join, so consequently Bembridge recently refurbished fire station remains a costly ornament.
Yet more likely scenario being social housing children will set fire to Steyne Park toilets, hedges and playgrounds ADDING, not alleviating issues here.
Build in the owners of Captiva Homes back garden
The odd handshaking fellows know what there doing and imo, have the Council due to their connections in their pocket.
Let’s hope the Pond at Lincoln way which is fed by the water course at the top of this field is not diverted into culverts or pipes as then the pond will dry up even more rapidly than it does now in the Summer months.
Perhaps the Pinks could ensure as a PR ‘stunt’ that our pond is kept supplied, but we don’t want any entrance from the site into our road, as our pond will be filled with old stained mattresses, cider and beer tins if the social housing is built as suggested.
Hopefully the affordable and social housing stock will be skirting the road to keep the better homes away from traffic noise and fumes.
Let’s hope that Bembridge Parish Council ensure that the boundary hedge is fenced on Steyne Park side, otherwise the affordable and social occupants may create an entrance into the park through the very thin hedgerow and then walk their dogs, allow their wayward children to ride motorcycles over the park and litter, camp, and have dangerous bbq’s all Summer long.
They stupidly allowed a gateway in from Sycamore Drive, which had the same tardy mix of social and affordable housing and we have had problems with feral children riding motorcycles from there ruining the football pitches and grass areas.
CCTV covers only the main entrance so the more gates into the Park the less likely any perpetrator will be caught or prevented.
Yes it is most telling that you never get the reverse of this new social engineering policy on the Island, of having high end expensive homes placed into the centre of Social housing estates or right alongside the affordable homes.
They are still both segregated by an invisible wall, kept at arms length from those wealthier owners who can pay the full asking price, as never the twain…
And I see why, as many of these ‘affordable home buyers’ don’t fit in, but sadly try to by buying older BMW’s and Audi motor cars suddenly feeling they are middle class, but their mouth proves otherwise.
We have certainly witnessed an alarming increase in children in the local school having nits, body odour and impetigo.
Whilst this may of course be entirely coincidental, all the while affordable housing has been increasing, along with social housing in our village one can’t help connect these incidences.
Littering, vandalism, drinking, drug taking and dealing along with children vaping, often in our wonderful local park. Having witnessed undesirable characters lurking around and even camping illegally overnight, playing raucous music into the early hours, to my thoughts vindicate keeping affordable, and certainly social housing to the bare minimum.
Some of the comments on here are like left wing spoof sketches, are these comments real!!, nits and lice of lower class people?? not to mention comments about “the blacks” omg do these attitudes still exist? It’s like an overegged Harry Enfield extreme right wing character.. but this is real life, frightening.. PS/ all the rumours about Bembridge and Seaview residents are true, and I just thought it was over simplification on moving here. Do council offer incentives for right wing bigots to move here, or is it a home grown bloom..