Residents of Elmfield in Ryde have hit back at the decision to expand the Nicholson Road business park, despite new jobs on the horizon.
The application for outline approval of the mixed-use business park in Ryde was approved last week but critics have rejected the decision, especially because of the impact it will have on the town’s infrastructure.
Plans were also approved for the infrastructure of the site which will see roads connecting the business park to Smallbrook Lane with a roundabout as well as other junction changes around the Elmfield area, despite the strong objection to plans from Island Roads. The opening up of Nicholson Road as a through road will ease the pressures on Westridge Junction and the top of Smallbrook Lane.
Now residents of the area, who are likely to see Elmfield change dramatically in the coming years with a number of major developments planned — Pennyfeathers, Rosemary Vineyard and the new Smallbrook Ice and Leisure Centre, have complained that no one took their views into consideration.
Jenny Wade, a member of Ryde Society, who lives in the area, said Ryde, and indeed the whole Island, urgently needs an infrastructure plan to stop piecemeal developments being approved. She said:
“There have been a number of meetings held were residents asked for the road infrastructure to be sorted out first but there is no commitment and the community’s views have been completely ignored.
“Residents of Elmfield are going to be living in a building site for the next 20 years.
“In the planning report, officers said residents of Great Preston Road have to live with traffic noise so, by approving the application, their quality of life isn’t going to be any further impacted — I don’t think they have the right to say that.
Article continues below this advertisement “They don’t live here. They don’t know what it is like to live here. No one has come to the road and spoken to residents.
Residents of Great Preston Road have suffered from congested traffic over the years, with increasing numbers of heavy goods vehicles, creating tailbacks and making it difficult to access their own properties. Some residents have even said they suffered abuse getting onto their driveways. In the same breathe though, a number of residents are parking on both sides of the road which is causing traffic issues.
Jenny said:
“It is like they are saying residents’ quality of life can be sacrificed because the Isle of Wight Council was determined to get the application pushed through, having already spent a huge amount of money on it.
“We heard there was no more money for this and you wonder if this has been steamrollered through so they can recover some of the costs that have already gone into it.”
At an audit committee meeting last year, an internal report considered the project as high-risk, with the council budgeted to spend more than £750,000 to make a robust business case and carry out all the necessary checks needed for the planning application.
In a bid to save the council money following the impact of COVID-19 on its finances, further enabling works have been postponed. A deficit reduction strategy was approved in July, which will save £260,000, halting plans after planning permission was secured.
The application was granted approval by 8 votes in favour to 4 against.
These vile councillors know that now they have secured permission to change from a beautiful green field site, to commercial, it is an easy step to then ‘change’ that into more housing as the ‘excuse’ will be “CV has lowered demand for business re-location or expansion” and so more housing will fill this now beautiful ancient Preston manor land.
No doubt a sly way of shoe horning in even more social housing into Ryde, which will soon be filled when the imm detention centre is built here, as the birth rate of the Island will rise dramatically as many apparently never learn what ‘no’ means.
God help the females living here because the law won’t.
New Jobs? I have worked for many mainland companies and I have found that only roughly 10% of Island People get a job; the rest are from the mainland. Also the timing of this project is silly, we are sadly in recession and building more of these type of premises is bonkers. I feel for the residents they have to put up with a lot of traffic let alone those who think 30mph means 40-50mph and bigger lorries trundling up and down.
Ben, the ‘jobs’ are merely used to prevent effective protests.
As someone else mentioned, they merely pretend they are going to use the land for commercial use to make pushing the desecration of ‘another’ green field site ‘seem’ more ‘acceptable’.
Then once permission is granted, (as IF it wouldn’t have been with the council OWNING the land) then they will wait a while, and tell everyone that due to CV, recession and the UK leaving the EU, that less commercial demand than was first envisaged means they will apply for a ‘change of use’ and just build MORE houses which is what they really ‘wanted’ anyway.
The reason being they get paid from mainland councils to take on their over spill, and our council then get council tax on every home, even if the tenants are unemployed as Central Gov pay such then.
Brown envelopes containing fat ‘thank you’ cards from very grateful developer ‘friends’ are just the ‘cherry’ on the already thick, PINK icing for the greedy who with swelled council coffers can then award themselves larger pay rises and larger expenses along with other more ‘hidden’ fiscal benefits.
Ensure YOU ALL vote these vile, greedy and selfish people out next time.