Isle of Wight Council’s draft planning strategy has just gone out to public consultation (30 July 2021). Over 1,400 new homes are proposed for Parkhurst and Hunnyhill ward.

Among the documents on the consultation web page are:

• the whole draft Island Planning Strategy – the various sections are also available from individual links
• an interactive Policies Map which means different categories can be overlaid with each other
• a booklet of detailed maps of Housing Allocations

The figure for new homes for the whole Isle of Wight is 7,290 new homes through to 2038. About one-fifth of those would be in Parkhurst and Hunnyhill ward.

The locations and figures from the strategy for Parkhurst and Hunnyhill are:

Location	Indicative yield
Former HMP prison site	1200
Land at Horsebridge Hill and Acorn Farm	115
Land at Noke Common	100
Former Library HQ, land adjacent St Mary’s Hospital	25
TOTAL	1440

In my view, the allocation to our area is excessively disproportionate, especially given that Newport itself is expected to take nearly half (48%) of the new homes proposed for the whole Isle of Wight.

The impact on the environment will be massive. The map (see below) shows boundaries for development that go right up to the edge of Parkhurst Forest in the west and sensitive environmental sites in the east. The strategy says there would be ‘landscape buffers’ to ‘ancient woodland and SINCs [sites of important nature conservation]’. I am told that a landscape buffer would be a minimum of 15 metres (about 50 feet) between development and ancient woodland.

The impact on local services and infrastructure will also be massive. On average, there are 12 cars for every 10 UK households. This could see 1,700 extra vehicles on local roads arising from the proposed developments. Newport already has problems with congestion.

I hope residents will make their views known.

Comments can be made as follows:

• online through an interactive document
• download a comments form (pdf)
• emailing to policy.consultation@iow.gov.uk 
• writing to Draft IPS consultation, Planning Policy Team, Seaclose Offices, Fairlee Road, Newport, PO30 2QS