Councillors have agreed to fight to return power to the council’s planning department — to stop the ‘wrong kind of development’ — despite the move being branded as the ‘NIMBY charter’.
A heated debate on the issue saw the councillor bringing the motion being asked to leave the chamber by the Isle of Wight Council chairman.
At the moment, due to the Island’s under-delivery of housing in the last 5 years, the planning authority is under the presumption in favour of sustainable development. This means there must be a significant adverse impact that outweighs the benefit of approving an application if the council is to reject a plan.
Referred to as the ’tilted balance’, Councillor Peter Spink wanted to get rid of this, and asked the leader of the council, Councillor Lora Peacey-Wilcox, to write to government requesting it be suspended. He said he is not opposing housing being built but the right housing was not being built for the right people and those best to make planning decisions is the planning officers.
Councillor Matt Price, a member of the council’s planning committee, said it was a difficult position to be in, and the suspension offered an interim solution so they did not have to bow down to the government anymore. However, not everyone agreed.
Councillor Richard Quigley said it appeared as if they were discussing a housing crisis on the Island but the solution that was being discussed was to build fewer houses. He said it effectively looked like a NIMBY charter, ensuring no houses could be built across the Island. He did not agree with the tilted balance but the motion did not address the housing issues, with no link to social or affordable houses for rent.
Among those to agree with Cllr Quigley were chairman Councillor Geoff Brodie, cabinet member for housing needs, Councillor Ian Stephens and the cabinet member for adult social care, Councillor Karl Love. Councillor Clare Mosdell, however, said those councillors were getting carried away and this would allow the committee to get its teeth back until the Island Planning Strategy is in place.
Councillor Daryll Pitcher agreed with Cllr Mosdell and said the council has no control with these measures in place, leading to the wrong sort of housing being built, and it would continue to be a ‘free-for-all’ if nothing were to be done.
The motion passed with 27 in favour, 4 against and 6 abstentions.
During the vote, after Cllr Quigley had cast his vote, laughter broke out, causing Cllr Spink to angrily respond it was no laughing matter. An argument broke out between Cllr Spink and Cllr Brodie about conduct during the vote resulting in the chair asking Cllr Spink to leave the meeting.
Cllr Spink refused and an almost 10-minute stand-off ensued where he continued to stand his ground, despite being asked by Conservative group leader, Councillorr Steve Hastings, to follow the chairman’s order.
Resolving the matter, Cllr Spink apologised to Cllr Brodie and the full council for ‘getting overly excited’, saying the matter meant a great deal to him.
Did we really vote for these muppets
it is a laughing matter, as all the councillors are a joke.
There arrogance is laid bare with the reference to NIMBY charter – talk about insulting the residents and looking down their noses at us.
This is about preserving the islands greenfields, preserving the islands ability to remove CO2 from the atmosphere, preventing the never ending increase in the length of the queues at the Dr, Dentist and hospitals. Not to mention the fact that the islands water system, sewage system and roads cannot cope with an ever increasing amount of people, generating more and more rubbish, more and more pollution and more and more overcrowding.
What Cllr Spink is saying we need housing which benefits the residents of the Island, rather than the on mass second homes and retirement homes the developers prefer to build.
It appears Cllr Brodie is hell bent on covering the Island in concrete.
When s**t gets stuck in a pipe, you have to flush it out, so let’s flush this lot out. Such a bunch of arrogant, selfish, over-paid idiots.
How hard it is to have a housing strategy that prioritises brownfield and allocates new housing to locals with a proven need in the most efficient way.
Don’t need to argue about it.
Its all about the ££££ signs nothing more nothing less
so know mater what the public say it wont mater as its all set in stone. There must be a lot of handout going around in the council office. Clair Mosdell ha what a joke the women is. Shes as bent as the rest of them. Hope you got what you wanted with your paddocks HOOOOOOOO sorry you did fiddle that as well.
So you all think its funny do you playing with peoples lives? you should all be ashamed of your selves.
I know council houses is a dirty word to some people but before mrs thatcher the less well of in are society relied on them for a decent roof over the heads the sooner we get back to it the better but only on brown field sites
stop expecting the state to house you – get off your backside and provide for yourself.