At its meeting on 1 May 2024, Isle of Wight Council agreed to take the draft Island Planning Strategy to its next step. This will be a statutory consultation with residents.

The draft strategy sets out the overall approach towards future development on the Island and the policies to be used in assessing planning applications.

The draft plan includes policies that mean that:

• new affordable homes are even more affordable to Islanders;
• more protection is given to the countryside; and
• new homes will be net zero carbon.

The plan balances social, economic and environmental issues and fronts up to some difficult decisions such as planning for 453 homes per year until 2037 — although 2,358 of these homes across 44 different sites already have planning permission.

By allocating just 24 more sites that don’t already have permission for the next 15 years, the plan can protect the Island from unwanted, speculative development, which is often on greenfield sites and rarely provides Island affordable homes.

I previously opposed the strategy in 2022 as I felt it proposed too much development in Parkhurst & Hunnyhill ward. I felt able to support the revised strategy as agreement had been given to a masterplanning approach for these developments, to reduce the numbers in the plan period, and to provide greater protection for ancient woodland with buffers of 50 metres instead of 15 metres. I also welcomed an amendment that explicitly set out that just because a site was allocated in the plan it shall not alone constitute a material consideration in the decision of whether to give planning permission.

I hope many local residents will read the strategy and consider its proposals and send in their comments. I still have concerns at the impact of large scaled development on services such as schools and GP surgeries, as well as the obvious effect that more development will mean more traffic on the key strategic route along Parkhurst Road, Horsebridge Hill and Cowes Road.

What happens next?

The draft strategy will now move through a formal process set by national government with the local authority publishing the document and seeking public comments for a period of six weeks.

After that it will be submitted to the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities along with all the comments received, who will then appoint a planning inspector to hold public hearings and then produce a final report.

Once this process is completed the council will have the opportunity to adopt the local plan based on the inspector’s recommendations.