The new Island Planning Strategy (IPS) will be a potent weapon for the Isle of Wight Council in the war against unwanted development.
That is the message from the new lead councillor on housing as consultations on the IPS are undertaken.
Cllr Paul Fuller said:
“It gives us the ability to be stronger … we cannot allow what is starting to happen on the Island to happen.”
Nearly 4 months into the new Alliance Group administration and settling into his position, Cllr Fuller has taken over as cabinet memeber for housing and planning and successfully brought forward the IPS for consultation.
He said:
“With no plan, we cannot make any real, firm decisions about future development or how the Island progresses in terms of regeneration in the next 15 years.
“At the moment, there are so many problems, so many difficulties.
Article continues below this advertisement “For example, with residents having views on greenfield sites.
“On the other hand, we need to be able to provide housing for people who are in temporary accommodation, hundreds of people across the Island, we need to be able to respond to that.”
Following consultation in 2018, the latest IPS draft sets out how the council will address housing issues and planning applications in the future.
It will give the council the tools it needs in planning, Cllr Fuller said, otherwise they are dependent on what the government imposes.
He said:
“We have seen quite some contentious applications in the past and we have not had the policy grounds to say ‘this is not acceptable’ and what we want to see rolled out across the Island.
“The IPS will give us an evidence base to say to government ‘look, we are different’, we do have exceptional circumstances here.”
The current local plan applications are determined by was implemented in 2012 but policies in it have since been deemed as out of date.
In some cases, they have been used against the council as they are partially responsible for the presumption in favour of sustainable development the council now fall under.
Speaking as councillor for Cowes West and Gurnard, he said with nowhere left to develop in Cowes, it put pressure on Gurnard and Northwood to provide the housing. Therefore he may like to see the IPS altered to prevent this.
An important policy to him, being introduced through the IPS, was having hard settlement boundaries which will stop the opportunity for developers to go beyond them.
Cllr Fuller said:
“There is a worry that larger areas, like Ryde, could swallow up the smaller towns and villages and we want to keep those identities separate and keep those communities strong.
“I am quite proud of this idea but is not quite there yet.
“When you look at where the housing allocations are, there are some controversial things but we need to know from communities what their thoughts are and if developments are allowed, we need to make sure they are right in the future.
“What we really need is residents to be able to engage with the consultation process and either support the IPS or tell the council where they have got things wrong.”
To read the strategy and find out how to comment, visit: iow.gov.uk/Residents/Environment-Planning-and-Waste/Planning-Policy-new/The-Island-Plan-Review/Surveys-and-Consultations.
Comments will be accepted until 17:00 on the 1st October.
Just read the comments page !!!!
We cannot as an small island support the amount of housing being built …
We don’t have the infrastructure…..
We don’t have Dr’s Dentists social care ,and as previously stated we have 1 Hospital!!!!!.
More housing = more needing these facilities which obviously puts more strain on those few We do have simple!!!!!
Car’s 100 houses could equal 200 more or even more per household.
So many empty shops and buildings that could be converted into housing for those in temporary accommodation …..
It’s not rocket science …..
They wont listen
Oh REALLY!?
However, if you are a Councillor and you build something different to your granted plans, nothing will happen…
Just saying.
Actions speak louder than words – if we see greenfields remaining green with no houses built and areas not suddenly redefined as brown from green because it had a shed on it, as well as commercial brownfield sites, remaining commercial, then we will be able to believe that the council have finally got their act together and sent these developers packing.
Hot air. Platitudes. The lure of more council tax to be paid on new properties to cover the shortfall in government funding is irresistible – that and the fact that developers are to powerful for IWC to handle means in the end this will be another unenforced “policy”
Oh yes definitely more council tax to top up their pensions!!!
But alas the costiof social care etc as we all age doesn’t even enter the equation????
Always say look further than the end of your nose !!!!!!
May make money today but tomorrow you will pay …
Or the council tax will go up again and again etc ….
Must keep them in the manner of which they have been accustomed to ££££££££…..???
I wish they would stop using the word ‘Regeneration’ here, there, and everywhere, to describe housing developments.
New housing on greenfield is the complete opposite of regeneration. Stop using it.
And what’s his boundaries gonna do. Just discrimination imo. He’s saying sod you lot in Ryde, you don’t get to have green fields.
They ask for consultation yet add more unwanted greenfield developments in the plan from the publication of the first draft to this latest version.
At least two of the unwanted developments in the plan were issued a green light (outline permission) from the Council over the last two years.
This is why developers have put in loads of applications, this IPS won’t be in effect for at least 2 years.
Even when its in place, a lot of greenfield sites will be developed as i’m sure if plans are turned down, they will just appeal and get it passed.
Reminds me a lot of a past PM holding up a piece of paper which turned out to be totally useless.
And…there are no jobs here.
The schools do not match the teaching standard on the mainland.
All the derelict empty shops, over head rooms and dilapidated building need addressing.
The island has gone down hill BIGTIME its dirty and rundown in all the towns.
Even County Hall looks like a eyesore.
Make this Island a lovely place again and stop spending money on building houses which brings more people from the mainland which cannot be supported…Its not hard to work out for gods sake.
At the end of the day; who is responsible for houses being built here; the local council or greedy developers from who knows where , who only care about maximising their own profits, and nothing else ??
Developers and their Planning Agents continually cite ‘Out of Date’ plans as a lever for ‘presumption of favour’.
However, this has been challenged now on a number of occasions in the courts. One example below. There are others.
Unable to paste the whole judgement as limited with characters, but easy enough to search for. An interesting read. I hope our Planners and Councillors are up to judicial speed on this?
3 September 2020 – Court of Appeal Decision on NPPF Paragraph 11d Outdated Policies
The Court of Appeal has handed down its decision in the case of Peel Investments v Secretary of State for Housing, Communities & Local
No more bloody houses! Why can’t anyone see that people will always say we need more? Even when there is no room left to build any more! The time has come to STOP! Stop now before there is nothing left of any peaceful value on the Island.