The Cabinet of the Alliance Group, which now leads the Isle of Wight Council, will be agreeing to commence consultation on a revised version of a plan to guide planning and development on the Island for the next 15 years.
The Island Plan is essential to supporting families, businesses and our environment but, under the previous administration, it languished with no apparent action since 2018. The new administration has kick-started things so that the public can get involved in the process.
Jonathan Bacon, The Alliance Cabinet Member for Environment and Heritage said:
“By bringing forward the Island Plan the aim is to have more control over planning decisions at local level and not be controlled by Westminster and what they deem is right for us.
“The Plan is most certainly not in its finished form but instead of endlessly working away on it behind the scenes the aim has been to get it out into the open to have a public conversation about its contents. Unlike some consultations we have seen before, this is not a situation where a document is being issued as a formality with no intent to change it.
“It is clear that one area in which the current version of the Island Plan is deficient is in its recognition of our status as a UNESCO Biosphere. This has rightly been made clear in public comments already. It seems that there was a lack of understanding on the part of the previous Administration about the Biosphere and this prestigious status was not understood and did not inform their policy and thinking as much as it should have done.
“The simple fact is that the Biosphere is a clear mandate to draw together our policies, including those relating to human wellbeing and ecological health, into an integrated approach to support a better cultural, social, economic and environmental Island life. When we add this in to the Island Plan we will have the basis for an astonishing and potentially transformational reimagining of what it is to be the Isle of Wight. It is also gives us a clear basis upon which to argue that the Island can be treated differently in planning terms from other areas
“The new Administration properly recognises the importance of the Biosphere and the fact that is integral to how many things, including the protection of our environment is taken forward. However rather than delaying the consultation to write this in we can use the consultation process as a vehicle to increase peoples knowledge and understanding of the importance and relevance of the Biosphere to us all.
Article continues below this advertisement “This whole process shows that the important thing for us is to have an open debate and discussion about our planning system and all it affects. Alongside the protection and education of our children and looking after our vulnerable residents, it is probably the most important thing for our Island community. I am looking forward to seeing the Plan develop and grow into something that works for the whole Island”.
Limit coach and visitor vehicles coming here, that way buses, train and taxis will benefit from more income and less traffic on the roads, so therefore less fumes and accidents.
Agree – use it or lose it.
we only have a biosphere status, an area of outstanding natural beauty status, a thriving natural environment and a garden isle title, because we do not have a concrete jungle of a society.
if these idiot developers had their way, we would be drowning in concrete, all the above qualities would be gone, as well as the developers who would be living somewhere else, in a nice house, surrounded by natural habitats and fields, all paid for by destroying the island and its environment.
Sadly many parts of the Island have already been turned into a concrete jungle. I’ve seen the Island described online as being “full of chavs”. I can see why some have said that. What do they think it is like for those of us who have always lived here and seen it destroyed bit by bit and are not one of the chavvy types but have had them move in all around us? So stressful and alarming. It is no longer the lovely place it used to be, especially in Ryde.
‘Fine words’ ‘butter’ and ‘no parsnips’ come to mind here.