Despite planning permission being granted and a local need for new housing, Nettlestone and Seaview Parish Council has donated £750 of public money to a crowdfunding campaign in a fight against the Isle of Wight Council over the 470-home West Acre Farm development in Ryde.
Councillors agreed last week to financially support the legal challenge being led by ‘Save Westridge Farm’ after community members expressed grave concerns about the process that led to planning permission being granted for West Acre Park.
The parish council hopes the donation will go a long way to enabling the campaign to get ‘a positive resolution for all Island residents’.
Councillors Trish Redpath and David Barry said they, and the other councillors, are concerned the development would merge Ryde with Nettlestone and Seaview. They also agree with some residents of Ryde that the decision-making process at the Isle of Wight Council’s planning committee, where the development was approved, was ‘unsound’.
The Parish Council say due to the huge number of development applications in Ryde, its infrastructure is set to be ‘swamped’ so all planning decisions must be taken with the utmost care. Instead, they say the Westridge Farm decision was ‘thoughtless and inappropriate’ and it is imperative the planning authority recognise it.
The Save Westridge Farm Campaign says it has outlined more than 60 errors in the planning process but the Isle of Wight Council says it has a valid argument for all the points raised.
After the planning permission was once again confirmed by the Isle of Wight Council in March, it can officially be granted which then starts a 6-week time frame to take the case to a judicial review.
The fundraising campaign has nearly reached its target, with £17,300 from 408 pledges, and says it has a solid argument against the council, which would be a landmark case for all planning applications on green fields or farmland on the Island.
Isle of Wight Councillor Peter Spink has also donated to the crowdfunding campaign.
good – sentiment is against this development – those supporting it should be concerned about their continued employment.
Why use the headline “ Parish council throw public money at crowd funder against Westacre development?”
It implies that Island Echo supports the building 475 houses on green belt land whereas the vast majority of local people are against it.
I am delighted that the parish council donated £750.
Complete waste of resources as well as the nearly 20k raised, swallowed by administration costs. I could be wrong – we will see in due course…
I too agree these properties should not be built there. If they want to get rid of the farm fine, but that is green land and could be used for growing much needed food.. with Pennyfeathers building around 950 houses , I cannot see why they should allow these 495 to be built. Yes it would joining all three parishes together…( sad ) If that keeps up soon the Island will be one huge suburb of Portsmouth !! The Ferries are ruining this Island, spend the money on a tunnel, so people can commute to mainland, and not have to pay over £300 for a weekend return !! Possibly then new business’ would start up over here and employ many people.
Oh no not the tunnel argument again. Get real nobody is going to spend hundreds of millions
just to benefit a few on a small inconsequential island..If it got agreed today it would take at least ten years minimum to complete.To save on the ferry costs all you have to do is the same as us. Buy a small inexpensive car, park it 15 minutes from the city centre and hey presto all you have are the
red jet costs.. We have done this for five years and saved a bomb. Two ferry trips covers my car insurance and tax.
Locals don’t want it and that should always be the deciding factor for massive housing projects like this
Let’s find somewhere where locals DO want it… Jesus wept…
Is this the right way to spend ratepayers money?
In short, no.