Residents have won a fight to stop housing being built on greenfield land in Wellow, after plans were thrown out by the planning committee on Tuesday night.
5 county councillors voted against Redmer Developments’ revised outline proposal for up to 10 houses next to Wellow’s Main Road, which last week saw a roadside demonstration against the plans.
Another 5 were in favour of the application, but a refusal was sealed with a casting vote from Conservative planning committee chair, Warren Drew.
The panel went against a planner’s recommendation for conditional approval, subject to conditions and a completed Section 106 Agreement, with provisions such as 35% affordable housing and a £15,000 contribution towards rights of way infrastructure.
After a debate, reasons to reject the application were set out by Russell Chick, planning development manager at the Isle of Wight Council.
He said:
“The proposed development would result in ten additional houses situated outside of a settlement boundary, away from services and facilities which would result in an unsustainable form of development reliant on access by private car.
“The proposed dwellings and associated access and parking turning areas would be detrimental to the rural character of the area by reason of the physical and visual impact they would cause and would therefore conflict with the intention of the local planning authority to protect the character of the area.”
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Councillors who voted for refusal
- Paul Fuller, Cowes West and Gurnard, Alliance
- Becca Cameron, Freshwater South, Empowering Islanders
- Michael Lilley, Ryde Appley and Elmfield, Liberal Democrats
- Claire Critchison, Chale, Niton and Shorwell, Green Party and Alliance
- Warren Drew, Ryde South East, Conservatives
Councillors who voted against the refusal
- Ian Ward, Sandown South, Conservatives
- Bill Nigh, Lake North, Reform UK
- Martin Oliver, Mountjoy and Shide, Conservatives
- Matthew Price, Fairlee and Whippingham, Conservatives
- Debbie Andre, Sandown North, Alliance
Councillor Paul Fuller said:
“This is right in the middle of our countryside, it is a special part of the Island, it has nothing within the proposal that to me helps to mitigate against the damage that it will have on the local landscape.”
Councillor Michael Lilley seconded Cllr Fuller’s proposal to object and told the council chamber:
“My particular thing is the pavement and the roadway. Nothing that is proposed for me will make that road safe.
Councillor Becca Cameron said:
“I can’t consider this is generally sustainable housing. The report accepts it’s not walkable to services and relies on an hourly bus.”
Backing the application, Councillor Ian Ward said:
“I’d like to question this assumption of unsustainability. We have people who live there now, probably lived there for generations, their children go to school, they go to work etc.”
David Long spoke on behalf of the applicant earlier in the evening:
“A vote negative to this application is a direct strike against a plan that you’ve already voted for.
“Where on earth, if we don’t have a site that’s probably inarguably in the centre of Wellow, which is a sustainable rural settlement, where on earth does development then go in Island Planning Strategy terms?
“I also appreciate that the objectors say the site isn’t sustainable, you don’t need more growth – but I’m also conscious the objectors’ houses are not a construct of God’s own creation.
“They’re a construct of building on some land over a period of time – this is just Wellow’s next succession of change.”
Councillor Jonathan Hill represented Shalfleet Parish Council, which objected to the proposal, saying:
“The design and scale of this development is totally inappropriate. It’s an estate, suburban in form, urban in feel – entirely out of keeping with Wellow.”
Great result for common sense. The island already has too many people living here, for its relatively small size at 147 square miles. if you compare it to Anglesey for instance at 275 square miles.
The population of Anglesey is 69,000 compared to the Islands at 141,000. If the island had the same population density as Anglesey it would be around 37,500. (Thanks co-pilot) Go figure.
That is very true, but some places on the mainland
have many more people living in less square miles.
Too be honest there are enough empty derelict properties
on the island that could be transformed into new homes.
Keep building on greenfield land is not the answer.
Well done to the people of Wellow.
Well done everyone.
Hope it won’t be dragged out any longer by an appeal.
Not in my back yard eh. They will still build them but in someone else’s back yard.
A good decision for once. There are plenty of disused buildings and sites around the Island and in Sandown in particular which should be redeveloped first. Good quality farmland must not be sacrificed on the altar of greedy, lazy developers. Don’t even think of appealing this.