Proposed plans to construct 149 new homes on greenfield land in Gunville have received objections from local MP Bob Seely.
Mr Seely has said the development, which is planned on arable land behind Arthur Moody Drive and Forest Hills, would result in more of the Island’s natural beauty being lost. He believes the development of the site to be unnecessary when there were other alternative sites that could be developed first.
Bob said:
“Newport has an abundance of brownfield land that could be used for development instead. The town has empty properties that could be converted into genuinely affordable homes for Islanders and larger sites that could be redeveloped to address the housing needs of Islanders.”
Mr Seely has suggested the planned housing would be largely car-dependent, where alternatively the redevelopment of brownfield land in Newport town centre could support greener transport methods. He has also raised concerns over the potential disruption to wildlife habitats in the area and says the development would cause an “irreversible change to the natural landscape”.
Further concerns have been raised by the MP about the risk of increased flooding, a rise in the number of vehicles on surrounding roads in the area and additional pressure on healthcare services and schools. He adds that the houses do not wholly consider the needs of Islanders.
“I am not reassured that the mix of housing will strike the correct balance in accordance with the needs of Islanders, as the final mix of housing has not yet been agreed.
“It is proposed that only 35 per cent of the new homes will be affordable. This is not acceptable. Islanders need housing that is genuinely affordable.”
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Comments on the 2 applications (19/01415/OUT and 19/01426/FUL) can be made via the council’s planning portal by Friday 19th February 2021.
What the council and our MP considers to be affordable housing is not affordable to most young islanders. We need a national rethink of housing policies in general. ie if a young couple have been paying rent for a set time and have a good credit rating they should be allowed to take out a 100% mortgage .Because after paying rent that in some cases is higher than a mortgage would be for the same property. There was a time when the bank of mum and dad could help but after years of no or very low interest on savings they are no longer able to help.
He objects to this development quoting valid reasons why it shouldn’t happen, but the same applies to all the other developments that he has not spoken out about.
Odd that.
direct action against the developers is what is needed to bring them to heel.
Building on green field sites is not good,brown field sites only should be used as future generations may require green field sites as we become more reliant on home grown produce
As with the coun cil, on massive building estates, huge sums of money are created by turning cheap farm land into very expensive building land.
This then means that a very grateful devveloper and/or land owner can afford to send out enough ‘thank you’ cards to those, who by just voting the ‘right way’ can make them rich beyond most peoples dreams.
This of course is not so cost effective to do on smaller developments, what with the price of cards and stamps if several of these thank you cards need to be ‘sent’ out.
Hence small, less damaging planning is refused, whereas large massively destructive building gets the ‘nod’.
I would like to say well done ! I also think the same should be said for ALL housing developments. NOT just Newport areas.
Ryde is going to be swamped if pennyfeathers ever finishes.. There are lots of empty places and brown areas in and around Ryde
Certainly no need to have new houses that no Islanders will ever be able to afford, Council seem to forget many of the people that work on this Island have ZERO HOURS contracts, or short shifts and basic wage for pay !
How does one get a mortgage for a £160k home when employed like this.. save a deposit, really and how can we do that, council tax electric etc etc all mainland prices and rising constantly.. so many unemployed that companies are doing short shifts, basic wage, and hiring more to fill the normal day at short shifts..
Normal 8 hour working day, is now becoming two workers four hours each. .zero hours contracts should be banned. No security… no mortgage..
Please could people go online and object to BOTH applications – the initial one is for 36 houses and, if granted, 113 will inevitably follow. It’s the only way to stop this. If you look at the comments the objections are for many valid reasons – road safety, flooding and an inadequate sewerage system being just three.
Come on Bob, make a stand and really help us Islanders by doing something like Stephen Bushell has suggested…
High time the building of all new houses on the Island was stopped, there is neither the infrastructure or the jobs for them.
Not only Gunville but EVERY greenfield site How are we to feed people if the land is under concrete Sharpen up
There should be no more houses built on the island until we have another hospital to cope with more patients
I agree with all those that said no more big developments on the Island, so I hope they and there family and friends put their comments to the council through planning, and to local councilors. Strength in numbers.
The ash lane site is already being built on and that’s a flood area.