Pressure is mounting on plans to develop a portion of greenfield land in a Freshwater conservation area after dozens of objections have been lodged since news of fresh plans being submitted last month.
Since 30th July, a total of 37 letters from members of the public have been sent to County Hall opposing GL Developments IOW’s revised proposals for 3 custom-build houses off Queens Road on Pound Green in Freshwater.
As previously reported by Island Echo, concerns have included the visual impact of the project, habitat loss, the development not catering to social housing needs on the Island and the ‘very real risk’ of worsening local flooding.
However, GL Developments IOW has said the proposed development is ‘well balanced’ and allows change to take place in a ‘respectful and sensitive way’.
Kenneth and Christine Robinson, who live on Camp Road in Freshwater, said building on the land would ‘completely spoil’ the view from Granny’s Mead towards Pound Green.
Looking out her window at the field over the last 12 years, Michelle Laight said she has seen badgers, foxes, herons, buzzards, kestrels, swallows, woodpeckers, hedge sparrows, barn owls, pheasants, mice and shrew.
She said:
“Having the green area desecrated and destroyed will mean that much wildlife will lose their habitat.”
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Sarah Hobby meanwhile claimed there is a ‘serious lack of adequate foul drainage provision’ and pointed to ‘severe capacity issues’ on the local wastewater network.
She told planners:
“Under Policy DM14 of the Island Plan Core Strategy, any new development has to guarantee sustainable drainage, avoid making flood risks worse, and show that there is actual infrastructure in place to handle it.
“This application simply doesn’t meet those basic requirements.”
GL Developments said landscape and visual effects are mostly at the ‘lowest end of the scale’ and create ‘negligible’ or ‘no effects’.
The developer said:
“The proposal protects and certainly enhances biodiversity and ecological networks and can be given positive material weight.”
In addition, the applicant said the scheme’s Sustainable Drainage System (SUDs) pond has been designed to accommodate the surface flows of the residential plots.
A submitted Planning Statement said:
“The proposal will lead to a benefit in that it will remove existing surface flows being deposited on the highway and will reduce existing surface flows entering the combined public sewer and create a SUDs feature which will act as a bio-diverse resource.
“The proposal, as a composite whole, is well balanced and creates a distinct sense of place which allows change to take place, but in a respectful and sensitive way and delivers significant benefits without technical conflict to the means of access, trees, ecology or drainage.”
County Hall’s public consultation on the application closes on 14th August with a decision scheduled for 4th September.
