Those behind the major Pennyfeathers housing scheme in Ryde say it is now ‘gloves off’, as they look to go to the Planning Inspectorate over the Isle of Wight Council’s decision to reject the latest stage of the planning process.
The 900-home development was delayed once again on Wednesday when Councillors went against the Council officer’s recommendation of approving the reserved matters application which looked to add detail and finalise the scheme.
Committee members did not view the application favourably and voted, 6 to 1, to refuse the plans, stating issues with the layout and cycle path.
The Pennyfeathers scheme was first touted around 2007 – some 16 years ago – with it taking 6 years for plans to be put forward to the local authority for approval. It was in 2013 that planning permission was initially refused before outline planning permission was granted 2 years later in 2015, but not a single spade has hit the ground in the 8 years that have followed.
Now, Glen Hepburn, of Hepburns Planning Consultancy, who is working to see through the planning application on behalf of his clients, has spoken of his disappointment over the latest stumbling block.
He’s said he is disappointed members of the planning committee were ‘so out of kilter’ with officers that they went against the recommendation and refused it and no other options were suggested to the committee, such as deferral. He claims the committee was focused on refusing the application, rather than looking at solutions on how to take it forward.
Mr Hepburn has said he will appeal the case to the Planning Inspectorate as his ‘hand has been forced’. Shockingly, the outline consent has expired so the developers cannot submit a new 2nd-stage application for Pennyfeathers. It means if a new scheme is produced for development it would have to start at the beginning of the planning process, setting the scheme back by more than 8 years.
Once the case goes to appeal, it will be ‘gloves off’ and issues can be raised about the council’s process, which Mr Hepburn claims has caused delays and ‘left them waiting months’ for responses to emails.
Addressing questions over the ownership of the land, Mr Hepburn has said there had been legal arguments about who owned the Pennyfeathers site. One company went bust, he said, and his new clients, Smallbrook Developments Ltd, ‘rescued the situation’, by buying the assets. The company is made up of 93-year-old Basil Body – who has interests in Portsmouth-based Jeffries estate agents – and 78-year-old Patricia Godding.
He has explained the new owners are effectively funders of the project who get planning permission while investors and other companies, like housing developers, buy into the scheme.
If the ground is ever broken, Phase 1 of the Pennyfeathers scheme would see 123 homes built – of which 24% would be affordable and 11% shared ownership – as well as 4 commercial units, an energy centre and improvements made to Brading Road. Overall, there will be 587 open market properties and 317 affordable properties – built over 7 phases.
Lets hope the generous but ancient benefactors of this destructive project are long gone before the hedgerows, filled with nesting birds, the trees where all manner of wildlife life makes a home or finds food, along with the huge areas of wild grass land where countless birds, bees, butterflies and mammals find food is still around after they are not.
Whilst no doubt their greedy offspring will benefit from killing, ruining and preventing the next generation of wildlife to thrive in an area which has been it’s home for EVER, to be replaced with those just ‘arrived’ here, to fill the tiny affordable breeding hutches all state (us) subsidised at least the perpetrators of the initial funding may not ‘gain’ from misplaced investment
Eloquent as it gets.
Hepburn, listen very carefully, I shall this only once. WE DO NOT WANT YOUR PENNYFEATHERS. Now just go away and play with your toys on another planet.
Who is behind this development certainly not the people mentioned, a 93 and 78 year old, perhaps the planning consultant could enlighten us or is this. another speculative development where roads improvements local facilities etc all fall by the wayside when permissions are given.
Spot on. There is clearly a very murky picture here , but then this is the modus operandi we would expect from those hell bent on profit , and to hell with the consequences for the environment.
Listen We don’t want it get it
This is totally selfish, the home office have thousands of illegal VIP guests queueing up to be housed in lovely new properties at taxpayer expense, with a million or more other visa holders also needing homes and services from your taxes every year – to prevent this housing estate being built is to deny a fully funded future for millions of non-contributing imports
This lot are nothing but vultures.
Glen Heburn and Hepburn planning consultancy, needs to be boycotted and blacklisted – they are hell bent on destroying our greenfields, determined to import more unwanted people to the island, determined to increase pressure on our infrastructure, whilst living miles away in merstone – selfish, environment wrecker that is happy to ruin the quality of life for those living in Ryde and nature, to line his own pocket, but at no risk to his or their own quality of life. – how about you build that estate next door to you glen – thought not eh.
Yes, all the qualifications required to be employed in the council’s planning department, as he was. Leopard never changes its spots.
Any appeal by them should be rejected, plus the developers should be careful with terms like ‘gloves off’ because its very likely that environmental protestors will try to slow/halt the development should it ever begin.
This development is not needed and its not wanted. This development is fundamentally wrong and should never happen! This area doesn’t have enough GPs, getting an NHS dentist is nearly impossible and St Marys is full. The nearby roads cannot cope now, and with brown field sites unused nearby this development is nothing short of environmental vandalism!
Agreed and very well put. The very aggressive ” Gloves Off ” stance by the developers will only further fuel the resolve of the objectors to the unnecessary and unwanted development plan, causing devastation to a much needed green space.
All the PR blurb previously presented outlining the desirability of the development and the promises that the development will be sympathetic , and will provide a surgery .. BLAH BLAH BLAH ….
Now the real character of the developers is evident, and far more believable than the PR stuff. Aggression and the greed for profit, without any thought for the environmental destruction of the area and no respect for the Planning Committee’s democratic decision, money is NOT king !
Good on the council, we do not need this massive development, the hospital cannot cope, no NHS dentists, GP surgeries overloaded and the loss of greenfield land which should be producing food given the current food crisis’s and help make this country food secure, these projects benefit no one except the greedy developers on the mainland.
Problem is the planning department gave approval to the scheme which was overturned by unqualified councillors, to my knowledge when this happens the appeal is usually won by the developers.
Food security , green spaces and wildlife habitats trump GREED – well done Planning Committee.
Democracy can not be allowed to be undermined by threats and money. This development is not wanted or needed.
the fact that council money wasting meetings on this..how long its been going on and the REAL fsct its pure greed on the developer part is a total farce
the only reason should be given is NO INFRASTRUCTURE Fgs.
we dont want or need it .its OUR ISLAND .po
cycle lanes as a reason haha wth! this needs too be thrown out ……..FOREVER
Good on the 6 Councillors who voted against, and shame on Councillor Andre for voting in favour.
The nameless developers (if that is what you would call them) have had enough time to get the planning application right, and design of houses which would tie in with what’s left of the rural surroundings. Also without agreement with the Westridge Garage owners to sell, phase one of the outline planning permission can only be a non starter as it stands.
Now, had the permission been granted, who do the objectors appeal to??
Mr Glen Hepburn, would you like to live in the immediate area of your grand scheme?
Would you like to try driving in the area if your scheme goes ahead?
Would you like to find a school for your kids if your scheme goes ahead?
Would you like to try to find a doctor, or a dentist, to treat you and your family if your scheme goes ahead?
If you can’t answer “yes” to those questions then stick the plans up your ****, go away and stop wasting Islanders money and destroying the environment for greed.
PennyFeathers in the current economic climate is not needed.
St Mary’s Hospital cannot cope now, trying to get an appointment with a
GP since the pandemic is very difficult.
The ridiculous idea of building more and more homes on this shrinking
Island is ridiculous.
Renovate old disused buildings.
The new Planning reforms should hopefully prevent these types of schemes getting a foothold here on the Island.
Mr ‘gloves off’ Hepburn should wind his neck in and understand that public opinion is against these huge Greenfield developments. Planning Agents love nothing better than peddling these urban sprawls as a great thing for a modern society. You only have to look at the grotesque artist impressions depicting faux ‘new frontier’ facades built for a nuclear weapon test. You can be sure that Mr Hepburn and co won’t be living in anything resembling these dystopian nightmares.
So it’s potentially “gloves off” is it? To all the hundreds of constituents over the years who have voted and made their objections known to the IWC. Very democratic, not.
So now you have read these people’s comments basically saying we don’t need this or any other large development, today I have just done a Course with the NHS at St Mary’s hospital I asked a question the answer I got was they definitely don’t want further development because they are overwhelmed and lack of staff,1 department has lost 3 of 4 consultants and is unlikely able to replace due to location issues!!! and did you know this Island only has 6 operational ambulances on duty per day that’s not many for an ageing population and holidays extra commitment I hope you consider those strategies over greed
Used to be more hospitals on the island, biggest mistake getting rid of Ryde
Well we all know what’s going on only the chosen few are allowed to build! It’s about time people opened their eyes to what’s really going on ?
Well done 6-1 against so be gone with you. The island and it’s residents don’t want this urban sprawl.
Let’s hope the planning committee and councillors, tell them where to go !!!!?
If they know the island? and listen to the islanders then they will do something positive for the future of our tiny island, and not turn it into a concrete jungle !!!!
Don’t want it, don’t need it. Affordable housing, don’t make us laugh, once upon a time on this rock, not now .
Leave it alone . Use your time and money to tackle the real issues that keep being swept under the carpet.
Yeah shut up and bugger off!!!
I bet you have private health and dental insurance you lot in favour of this development! I also bet you live, if it’s here of course, in a very posh detached home nowhere near it and would never even shop in the area either!
Unrealistic and greedy, Making everyone else suffer for your greed and vanity as per usual.
WE DONT WANT IT!! PLAIN AND SIMPLE- wake up and smell the coffee!!
Nobody seems to mention anything about the green fertile land this company is going to ruin… have any of them ever set foot on it, and looked at it.. the damage this will cause will never be righted… This will ruin all of the Island … the huge influx of traffic… and huge influx of people… making Ryde look like a cul-da -sac of Portsmouth…I am very much against this and I hope many will see this as a ruination of his Island…
Out of interest as I hear it said over and over again… how much does an affordable home cost ?, and why so few being built. Where are all these new people going to work ?
This is all wrong.
Does anybody actually want this development?
Maybe a petition on Change.com should be started. Just a thought. Surely planning granted 8 years ago shouldn’t be still valid. I thought there was a time limit after planning is granted, for when building had to start.
Are the brown envelopes not big enough.
Good. We don’t want any more houses on our beautiful island, there isn’t the infrastructure to cope with it. Instead double council tax on second homes to disuade them, that will release more housing stock and be better for the island economy.
If only we had a local newspaper that would stand up for local people on issues like this.
Over 900 new homes, meaning 2-3 thousand people. Where are they now? Certainly not on the Island.
Come on Island Echo and CP, do your bit and stand up for your readers and the Island people.
We don’t want this development and we don’t need it.
How can a private developer propose closing a public highway to turn it into a glorified footpath. This will either a) create a massive ratrun through their estate or b) when they close off said ratrun then all the traffic from Haylands, Ashey & Havenstreet going to Sandown/Tesco will be forced into the centre of Ryde increasing journey times, congestion & pollution.
So 900 properties, that’s 2 cars per household at least 1800 more vehicles on a stretch of road that can’t take it. Put the infrastructure in first and I might just might agree to it. But very doubtful