Members of the Isle of Wight council planning committee will be considering the fate of a development at the former Atherfield Bay Holiday Camp this week.
Officers are recommending ‘conditional permission’ for the demolition of the former holiday camp and for it to be replaced with 63 units of holiday accommodation, a clubhouse, swimming pool and service buildings.
Previous application refused
This is a revised application, after the previous was refused not only by the IWC planning committee, but also the Planning Inspectorate in April 2015.
The holiday camp, owned and run by Sandy Lane Resorts Limited, would only be open ten months of the year, closing in January and February, as with the applicant’s other parks.
Mixed views
Most of the major stakeholders (parish council, AONB officer, Island Roads, tree officer, etc) have not raised any objection to the application.
The Campaign to Protect Rural England say that assuming a strong set of conditions are imposed, they “would support the idea of removing what is currently nothing but a complete eye sore and carbuncle in this prime AONB location”.
Objections voiced by residents include; fears the development will spread into the adjoining agricultural fields, impact on the AONB and SSSI, traffic management and accident risk at the site entrance, impact on rare wildlife in the area to name but a few.
Benefits outweigh any harm
However, officers say concerns have been mitigated in the revised application and that any harm would be outweighed by benefits.
The application will be considered from 4pm on Tuesday 5th July at County Hall. Members of the public are welcome to attend.
The paper
Full details can be found in the paper below.
IWC Planning Committee July 2016 Paper B by ventnorblog
Image: © TMA Ltd
