Ryde Town councillor, Lisa Carter, is appealing to Isle of Wight residents for their views on the future of Westridge Farm, Ryde.
The farm in Ryde East is faced with the prospect of becoming a housing estate, with planning application for 475 properties on the site due to go before the council’s Planning Committee very soon.
Hollidays farmed the land for 50 years
Cllr Carter says,
“The land at Westridge Farm is recorded as having been farmed for centuries. Historic archive documents record farming in the local area and the estate that this land was part of as far back the 13th Century and the Doomsday Book. Generations over centuries have tended this greenfield land.
“The Holliday family are the tenant farmers, and have been dairy farming for over 50 years, tending and caring for this farmland. Without planning permission they have the legal right to farm this land for the next two generations under the succession rights set out under an AHA Tenancy.”
Ambition for community-owned farm
The councillor goes on to explain,
“We have been inspired by the Hollins family of Fordhall Farm in Shropshire. As tenant farmers they faced the prospect of being forced out of their farm due to development.
“In 2006 they saved their farm from development to become England’s first community-owned farm. Subsequently community owned farms have successfully been achieved in other communities within the UK.
“With the support from the community we believe that we could achieve the same for Westridge Farm. Safeguarding Westridge Farm for the future, for the benefit of food, the environment, ecology, the climate and the community.”
Share your views on what the future of Westridge Farm should be.
