The development of a holiday camp on the Military Road has been branded ‘the result of planning failure and developer greed’.
The Isle of Wight Council’s planning committee will meet tonight to discuss the change of Atherfield Bay Holiday Camp into Sandy Lanes, an exclusive gated development of luxury homes on the Island’s coast.
Uproar in the villages
There has been uproar in Brighstone and the surrounding villages. over the developer seeking retrospective planning permission for some work already started.
Local resident and parish councillor, Nick Stuart, said the current developer has ignored the permitted plans and built a future ruin.
Developer: Done nothing wrong
The scheme’s developer, Alan Dugard of Interguide IOW, previously stated he had done nothing wrong and the allegations of planning permission breaches were speculation.
Stuart: Scheme is 30 per cent bigger
Mr Stuart said the scheme is 30 per cent bigger, with more buildings, higher roofs and massive windows but the Isle of Wight Council’s planning department ‘think it is just minor amendments’.
He said the council needed to be rapid and robust in their response but there was no enforcement.
He claimed,
“The planning report could have been dictated by the developer.”
Conditional permission
After weighing up all the aspects of the application, officers have suggested the scheme be granted permission.
While it was acknowledged the planning team is under huge pressure, their decision, Mr Stuart says, has utterly failed the public interest, supports a blot on the landscape and sets a deeply worrying precedent.
Stuart urges committee to “see through the facade”
The planning committee will make the decision this evening and has been urged by Mr Stuart to “see through the facade and call this out as a major breach of planning”.
He is pushing for action, from a ‘feeble council’, before there is permanent damage to an unspoilt part of the Island’s landscape, its dark sky plans and its reputation.
This article is from the BBC’s LDRS (Local Democracy Reporter Service) scheme, which News OnTheWight is part of. Read here to find about more about how that scheme works on the Island. Some alterations and additions may have been made by News OnTheWight. Ed
