News and views

I’m grateful to Island Roads for acting quickly to clear the broken glass from the subway at the top of Hunnyhill. I had taken a walk down to the riverside when I spotted this and reported this (and the litter) to Island Roads. When I returned about an hour later it had all been cleared.

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At last night’s Full Council meeting (19 January 2022), Isle of Wight Council accepted a proposal from me to reverse cuts to a scheme that helps low-income households – the Local Council Tax Support scheme. The scheme helps low-earning people by paying a proportion of their council tax. The previous Conservative-run council had cut this support to just 65% over their time in office. I’d opposed all those changes. Having accepted an amendment when debating this year’s scheme, the council is now on course to restoring the level of support to at least 70% by 1 April 2023. Unfortunately, as the council must consult on any changes this is the earliest that extra help will be available. In the meantime,…

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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…

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This morning (Friday, 18 June 2021), I met with residents and Island Roads’ safety officer to discuss risks to pedestrians crossing at Stag Lane/Horsebridge lights from a tiny minority of drivers who pass through red lights. A couple of tweaks are to be implemented, changing the timing of the lights, and using different light housings that should make it clearer to drivers of lights that are red. We also discussed the problems of dangerous driving on Stag Lane. If you see this happening, please make a note of any details you can eg make and model of car, some or all of the number plate. Then inform the police or let me know I can pass on the information.

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I had a useful (virtual) meeting today, 4 June 2021, with new Isle of Wight Cabinet members Julie Jones-Evans and Paul Fuller about housing targets and planning strategy relating to Camp Hill, other MOJ prison estate land, and Noke Common. Council documents, such as the Island Investment Plan adopted by the previous Conservative Cabinet, have identified this area for up to 1,500 houses. If this went ahead it would be environmentally harmful to the forest and adjacent green fields, plus place immense strain on local roads and other infrastructure. In my discussion with Julie and Paul, we talked about how regeneration should focus on the prison site itself, and other land that has already been previously built on. This should…

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Last night, Wednesday, 26 May 2021, was the first meeting of the Isle of Wight Council since the elections earlier this month. Lora Peacey-Wilcox of the Alliance Group/Independent was elected as the new leader of the council winning 20 votes to 18 votes for Conservative nominee, Steve Hastings. I voted for Lora. I did so because I felt that the Island voted for change after four years of a majority Conservative administration. In Parkhurst & Hunnyhill, over three quarters of the votes were cast for a non-Conservative candidate – just under 60 per cent were for me. Across the Island, over 60 per cent of the votes were for non-Conservative candidates. During the election campaign, a lot of people I…

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