The Isle of Wight Council’s controversial draft Island Planning Strategy (DIPS) will come before councillors yet again as a decision on its future is hoped to be made.
Last month, an extraordinary meeting of the full council was called to decide whether or not to approve the DIPS — which would set the council’s housing targets for the next 15 years among other policies.
Sparks flew and opposing sides clashed
After a three-hour meeting, however, (the longest the meeting could go on for) no decision was made as sparks flew and opposing sides clashed.
Overall, a motion to send the plan out to a six-week consultation before sending it to the government’s Planning Inspectorate for scrutiny was rejected by 18 votes to 16.
No vote on second motion
A second motion was tabled by Cllr Chris Jarman, to send the DIPS back for consideration and recalculate the housing figures using data published in 2021, instead of those currently included in the plan which date back to 2014.
Time ran out before the motion could be voted on so no final decision was made.
Round two
Councillors will now continue the debate tomorrow (Wednesday) at the full council meeting at County Hall, where the motion will be heard again.
On the meeting agenda, officers are asking councillors to outline the objections they have to the DIPS which will then be sent back to the council’s cabinet executive for discussion.
Again, the meeting will only be able to run for three hours.
You can follow the meeting along online from 6pm tomorrow or attend in person at County Hall.
This article is from the BBC’s LDRS (Local Democracy Reporter Service) scheme, which News OnTheWight is taking part in. Some alterations and additions may have been made by OnTheWight. Ed
