Efforts to protect green space in Ryde, to stop new housing from being built, will reach the second-highest court in the country in hearings scheduled for early April.
Elmfield residents group Greenfield (IOW) Ltd’s bid to save the 200-year-old Westridge Farm from a 473-house development will be heard at the Royal Courts of Justice on 8th/9th April, it has been confirmed.
Greenfield’s judicial review case against the Isle of Wight Council’s approval of the West Acre Park project was dismissed after an Administrative Court ruling by Judge Jarman in August last year.
Following the decision, the developer behind the project, Captiva Homes, said the case’s outcome showed the council managed its application with ‘professionalism and integrity’.
Its director James Pink said:
“Captiva Homes will now move forward with the project at pace, eager to deliver 473 much-needed homes for Islanders, with the first homes expected to be ready for occupation in 2025.”
But, Greenfields appealed the ruling with the Court of Appeal the following month.
At a Ryde Appley and Elmfield ward meeting last Thursday, Councillor Michael Lilley read out a statement from a representative of the campaign:
“We now have a date set for the case to be heard at the Royal Courts of Justice, The Strand, London. Those dates are April 8 and 9. It will be heard by three Lord Justices – not merely one judge as was the case in the High Court in Southampton last year.
“As you can imagine, it will be hugely expensive for a two-day trial in the court, in excess of £50,000.
“However, due to the strangeness and uniqueness of our case, our barristers have decided to fight the case without payments because they do believe that you’ve had an injustice in this case with the Isle of Wight Council.”
Speaking in his own capacity, Cllr Lilley said:
“This is the one ward that knows about judicial review. Because 600 people locally contributed to raise about £70,000 to have its own lawyers to originally save Westridge Farm, but also now the farmland which is very historic to this community.”
The land previously used by Westridge Farm is now empty with no public access.
Make use of the abandoned properties on the island
before thinking about building on green space.
There is the old Warners holiday site at Puckpool,
the old Royal York Hotel and the old ice rink, that’s
just in Ryde.
Then there are all the abandoned derelict hotels in Sandown,
plus the old Esplanade Hotel along Shanklin Esplanade and the
Old derelict buildings by the lift that use to be part of the
Old Spa Hotel.
The list doesn’t end to what’s available.