Isle of Wight councillors will be presented with an updated draft of the Island Planning Strategy at Cabinet next week (Thursday 8th September).
The Cabinet will also consider any recommendations on the draft plan from the Corporate Scrutiny Committee, which meets two days before, and will then make a recommendation to Full Council at its meeting on 21st September.
Overall approach towards future development
It sets out the overall approach towards future development on the Island and the policies to be used in assessing planning applications.
The draft plan includes policies that mean that affordable housing is even more affordable to Islanders, gives more protection to the countryside and that new homes will be net zero carbon.
The plan fronts up to some difficult decisions and outlines the expectation that 7,185 homes are to be built within the 15-year period up to 2037. However, almost one-third of these (2,135) already have planning permission.
Fuller: A new plan will give us the tools to tackle issues I think we all want to tackle
Cllr Paul Fuller, Cabinet member for planning and enforcement said,
“A new Island Planning Strategy is absolutely vital when it comes to our ability to determine where development takes place on the Island.
“Following resident feedback, our plan makes a strong overarching commitment to use brownfield sites for new homes and to defend greenfield land from unplanned developments.
“Agreeing a new plan will give us the tools to tackle issues I think we all want to tackle, such as the affordability of new homes and contribute to our environment agenda.
“It will also increase our ability to refuse inappropriate development. The Island Planning Strategy puts the council in a much stronger position.
“As portfolio holder I am committed to moving this forward so we can get into the formal stage of seeking public representations before submitting our Strategy to Government.”
Once the draft is approved by Full Council it will move through a rigorous statutory process set by national Government with the local authority publishing the document and seeking public representations.
After that it will be submitted to the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, who will appoint a Planning Inspector to consider the content of the plan and representations made, including holding public hearings, before producing a final report.
Once this process is completed the council will have the opportunity to adopt the local plan based on the Inspector’s recommendations.
News shared by Isle of Wight council press office, in their own words. Ed
Image: Daniel McCullough under CC BY 2.0
