A planning application to re-locate Westridge Garage in Ryde, the first stage of the long-awaited Pennyfeathers development, has been submitted to the Isle of Wight Council this week.
Under the plans Westridge Garage will move from its existing location at Westridge Cross to land north of Busy Bee Garden Centre. Here the business will trade from a brand new building with the existing 3 dealerships of Mitsubishi, MG and Skoda and room for up to 120 cars.
The garage’s move is the first element of Pennyfeathers, which will see up to 900 homes and community assets built on land between Brading Road and Smallbrook. Permission for the major scheme was granted by the Isle of Wight Council back in September 2015.
Moving Westridge Garage further South along Brading Road and demolishing the existing building will facilitate vital expansion work at Westridge Cross, where 2 properties have already been acquired on the opposite junctions. It is anticipated that once roadworks have been completed, building of the first properties will begin.
Mark Winkles of Westridge Garage has today (Friday) said:
“The Westridge Crossroads is far too dangerous and traffic conditions have made it almost impossible to trade from this site. There have been numerous accidents and I worry every time I see young families crossing this junction and then trying to cross Brading Road.
“We need to move our business off this busy crossroads and provide our customers with safe access and exit on our new site. The new plans will enable us to do this and by making things safer we can move our business forward.
“We’ve had too many near misses with dangerous drivers using our forecourt as a shortcut to avoid the traffic lights. They are unbelievably indifferent to other people’s lives and become very aggressive if we try and stop them”.
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Should planning permission be granted for the new garage, a temporary road will be created off Brading Road until such a time as the main Pennyfeathers roundabout is installed opposite Cothey Way.
Earlier this year it was stated that the first foundations of Pennyfeathers could be laid between June and December 2018 – that target is beginning to look realistic with the submission of this planning application.
Image: Farrell Design Studio/Westridge Garage/Pennyfeathers Property Company Ltd
