Isle of Wight MP Bob Seely has published his response to the Island Plan consultation and is urging Islanders to comment.
Bob has said that the Island Plan is a critical document for the Island and its collective leadership. He has welcomed the plan but says he is concerned the Council has not sought exceptional circumstances in housing need from the Government as previously indicated.
Mr Seely says:
“I welcome the Island Plan and pay tribute to the Council for the work they have done on this. It is now vital we have a local plan in place to prevent speculative development and to take control of the Island’s planning agenda.
“However, we need to challenge the Government’s assessment of housing need in the Island Plan, and we need to do so on principle. I will be urging the Council to seek exceptional circumstances in housing need from the Government. We need well-designed housing built in existing settlements for Islanders. For the first time in a generation, we need to be looking after Islanders and building for them.”
In the new plan, a majority of sites are on brownfield land, the housing target is approximately 25% lower than before, sites away from settlements and garden villages have been removed, and there is a clearer mix of affordable homes. The new plan could see 7,290 homes built on the Island in the next 15 years.
Bob explains that the current target is based on the rate of past development on the Island over the last 20 years – 457 homes per year – and that instead, the Council should seek a more sustainable future. He has also said that the Council should aim for a target on or below what it currently, on average, builds – between 300 and 350 homes a year – but that almost all of them should be social and community homes for Islanders.
Seely has called for the Councill to work with housing and community associations to bring forward plans to significantly increase social housing on the Island.
The MP has also said that the new targets still could not be fulfilled and that this could put the Island at risk of failing the housing delivery test. Should this happen, it would undermine the Council’s ability to prevent speculative developments on greenfield sites.
Bob adds:
“Our housing target still places unrealistic demands on the Island and is setting us up for failure. The target is higher than past delivery in any year since 2010, 33 percent higher than average delivery in the last 10 years and 6 percent higher than average delivery in the last 20 years. We need a more sustainable future than our past.
“We need to seek exceptional circumstances from Government and build for Island need. This has been recommended to me by senior ministers, and we have very strong grounds politically and technically to do this.
“We need to build beautiful, in a recognised Island style. Ugly development has got to stop.”
Bob has continued to press for Island-wide designated landscape status and is writing to Natural England to explain the options for the Island to become an ‘Island Park’, to protect its landscape, tourism economy and quality of life.
I’ve said much the same in my response. Imo, the plan needs clear and transparent targets on new homes specifically for locals and those moving here for key jobs.
The whole plan is very woolly around who the new homes are going to be for, hence it enables developments to go through for holiday developments/second homes/retirements as long as they bung in a few affordables. It ain’t right. When will the council get the message, cannot continue the same way as before.
PS my posts seem to get deleted, why I do not know.
We need more business’s not houses..
Welcome to the club. Loads of mine get deleted. I think anything pointing out certain obvious truths tend to get removed a lot.
The infrastructure, especially health services, are not yet adequate for the present, recently increased, population. Put that right before even thinking about building any more houses.
The Island should have an Hospital that treats everyone
So many ill people have to travel to the Mainland for Treatment
In reply to taxing tourists I think it’s a disgrace I have been travelling to the island for holidays since 1976 most years at least twice if you tax the tourists and they decide it’s to expensive to travel and let’s be fair the ferry prices are excessive then businesses on the Island that rely on tourism will be finished and the council will not be able to collect council tax etc as less people will be working very shortsighted
Isn’t it only £1.50 added on though? Hardly a fortune individually, but would add up to help fill the empty coffers.
For once he appears to be making sense, are the island councillors unable to see this, or is this way of thinking just not in ‘their’ interest.
I expect it will all fall on silent ears and they will do what they want.
Before long we will be unable to call this the Green isle or Garden Isle as there will be none left !
Some eco friendly body.
Let’s get behind, or better still beside Bob in his desire for sensible, achievable, locally-focussed housing targets, and the raising of design standards to achieve new communities that are good places in which to live. The latter will require a significant shift in the way that the Council assesses proposals and requires Island Roads to think beyond its very limited understanding of “good design”. Most developers want to produce a pleasing end product, but the planning and highway adoption processes aren’t particularly supportive here. Time for radical change!
‘Most developers want to produce a pleasing end product…’. Unlike the hideous housing estate that has been allowed to be built in Shalfleet with potentially 70 more in the pipeline. I find it hard understand that anyone, Developer, Architect or Planner could say that these houses look good.
They are appalling! The Land owner says he wants to leave a legacy in Shalfleet! Pick the bones out of that insanity.
Just maybe, if there was a decent affordable way to get across the Solent 24hrs a day 7 days a week, then people could get more mainland work. A tunnel would be the answer. It would not close due to winds or Tides.. and would not stop during the night… or Christmas day !!
The Island ferries do not care about us on this Island.
Does anyone in the Isle of Wight Council actually live on this Island ??
I will have my say now, apart from brown field sites, no more new builds on the Isle of Wight and those on brown field sites should be for Island residents only and a cutting down in the number of holiday homes.