FORMER TOMATO GROWING ENTERPRISE IN MERSTONE COULD BE KNOCKED DOWN AND TURNED INTO HOMES

A former Isle of Wight tomato-growing enterprise could be knocked down and turned into houses under new plans. Merstone Valley Nurseries, on Merstone Lane, has been closed since 2000 with the site remaining empty ever since and the redundant glasshouse falling into a poor state of repair. Plans have been put forward by the Verey family, who have owned the site for more than 20 years, to build 8 houses. Proposals were first submitted in 2018, and approved in 2020, to demolish the greenhouses and replace them with an unspecified number of houses but more information has now been submitted. The properties could be arranged around, and facing a central courtyard. Documents say the plans have been made in such a way as to make the development feel more like a converted farmstead rather than a new residential one. The brownfield site had been identified by the Isle of Wight Council as suitable for housing in a 2018 assessment, with the potential for 15 houses. You can view the plans, 23/01946/RES, on the Isle of Wight Council’s planning register. Comments can be submitted until 15th December.