Agreeing ‘essential’ actions to improve County Hall after a damning report and moving forward with proposed changes to the new local plan were among the Isle of Wight Council’s most significant decisions this month.
On Wednesday last week (19th November ), councillors voted for a set of reforms after independent consultant Richard Penn’s review of their local authority described it as ‘dysfunctional’.
They endorsed Mr Penn’s recommendations which include enforcing codes of conduct at meetings, creating a standards committee and increasing member involvement in policy development.
The Penn report shed light on a problematic organisational culture at the council and said policies and procedures meant to provide ‘checks and balances’ on the behaviour of members and officers are ‘all too often ignored’ or ‘forgotten’.
It also mentioned concerns raised by some councillors relating to staff performance, with one representative describing County Hall as ‘like the Marie Celeste’ on Fridays because of a work from home policy.
At the same full council meeting, there was near unanimous support for a number of revisions to the draft Island Planning Strategy (IPS) in light of a letter from the Planning Inspectorate to County Hall which flagged concerns over housing delivery.
The IPS has been prepared to replace the Island Plan Core Strategy 2012, and a draft was previously brought to the Inspectorate for examination, with hearing sessions held earlier this year.
The proposed changes agreed last week would mean some new developments having a reduced share of affordable homes and a higher volume of housing units being built.
Inspectors identified a shortfall of 394 homes over a five-year period in their April Post Hearings Letter, but a council report written in advance of the full council meeting instead put forward a 315 figure due to the ‘passage of time’ and taking into account the granting of recent planning permissions.
The report said 3,691 homes need to be built over five years which includes a buffer amount.
Residents can have their say on the amendments in a six-week consultation beginning on 1st December and finishing on 12th January.
The proposals and related feedback will then be sent to the Inspectorate which will reopen a formal examination of the IPS.
Last Thursday (20th November), the children’s services, education and skills committee approved a recommendation to publish a public notice for expanding the Lionheart School from 120 to 180 places.
A consultation on the expansion runs until 19th December and can be found here.
The extra places would be for children with complex high anxiety mental health needs and provided at the former Cowes Primary School site from September 2026.
