Construction officially began at West Acre Park yesterday (Thursday) after a second Judicial Review claim seeking to block the development was refused by the High Court.
Marking the major milestone as one of the Isle of Wight’s most significant new housing developments, Isle of Wight East MP Joe Robertson visited the site alongside representatives from Captiva Homes.
MP Joe Robertson visit represented the recognition of the role the development will play in helping to address the Island’s housing shortage while delivering substantial economic benefits for the local community.
West Acre Park will deliver a mix of 473 homes, both private and affordable, alongside a 25-acre country park, extensive networks of cycleways and footpaths and a café. The development also includes provision for a new medical centre, subject to commissioning decisions by the NHS, and will see planting of more than 2,000 trees and 1,800 metres of hedgerow.
CEO of Captiva Homes, Iain Delaney said:
“The start of construction at West Acre Park is an incredibly proud moment for everyone involved. As well as delivering desperately needed homes, developments of this scale generate significant investment in the Island economy and create lasting benefits for the local community.
“Additionally, Sovereign Network Group stands ready to partner on the site with an investment of more than £40 million to deliver 135 social rent and 58 shared ownership homes.
“This helps us provide a range of housing options which, combined with a diverse mix of one, two, three and four-bedroom homes, will help hundreds of Island families into homes of their own.”
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During his visit, Joe Robertson MP highlighted the contribution Captiva Homes is making towards meeting local housing needs and increasing the supply of affordable housing on the Island.
Speaking, Joe Robertson said:
“Captiva looks set to become the biggest provider on the Island, delivering around 70 per cent of affordable housing supply next year.
“By 2029, they will have delivered the largest ever affordable housing project in East Wight, including provision for a new medical centre should the Integrated Care Board decide to commission it.
“It has already helped reduce the council’s backlog of people accommodated in inappropriately oversized homes, freeing up accommodation for families in need.
“There is much more to be done, but this is the most significant local solution that is beginning to deliver.”
West Acre Park forms part of Captiva Homes’ wider commitment to delivering homes for Islanders with the development providing a range of housing opportunities, including affordable homes, while creating new publicly accessible green spaces, supporting local employment and contributing towards the Island’s long-term housing needs.
With work now under way, West Acre Park is set to become a major new neighbourhood for Ryde, delivering homes, jobs and community benefits for generations to come.
Excellent with no new infrastructure..brilliant.
Don’t make me laugh it’s the Isle of Wight
Infrastructure doesn’t exist on the island.
Run by clueless numpties.
473 cars on roads that are already at breaking point -473 new people as a minimum at the hospital, doctors and dentists -473 more faces in the benefits office …which idiot green lighted this stupid idea
B@llocks
473 cars, most households have 4 cars +
So that is 1,892 cars
More NUMPTIES parking on Pavements and
Double Yellow Lines
All the fashion on the island
Beats paying to park.
Other than the developer hands up who thinks its a great idea to create housing for more people to move here..
Another green area decimated to build chav huts full of junkies and drunks and feral brats, who will in every ones gardens night after night stealing from their sheds and causing damage
Enough about the parents, what about the nippers
Lol
How does building new homes create jobs, yes whilst the
homes are being built, after that so many households jobless.
Joe nailing his colours to the wrong mast ….
More mainlanders moving here then ,,no housing for islanders
Allowing building on prime farming land which is also a key wild life corridor is a crime, more so when there are near by alternative brown field sites available.
Only once infrastructure for hundreds of new houses has been put in place only then brown field sites should be used.
Allowing the concreting over of land which has been green fields for more thn 1000 years just because it is cheaper for the developer is shameful, but at what cost to everyone else. Those who proposed and approved the unnecessary ripping out of the 300 year old hedgerow and the building on Apply Meadows should be ashamed of themselves.