An Isle of Wight council officer removed a Newport housing plan from a planning committee agenda due to advertised information “concerns”.
Strategic manager for planning and infrastructure delivery Ollie Boulter decided a re-advertised application for a 12 house development, including vehicle and pedestrian access, next to Landscape Lane on the edge of Newport would not be considered at Tuesday’s planning committee meeting.
Mr Boulter said,
“Whilst a site visit was undertaken on Friday morning (20th September 2024) by members of the planning committee, I have subsequently removed the item from the agenda due to some concerns around some of the information that has been advertised to the public around that application.
“As such we are taking steps to correct that information and allow a full and further, clear public consultation and I very much hope to be bringing that application to committee at the next available opportunity.”
Considered ‘contentious’
Mrs C Ferns’ application includes provision of “pedestrian crossing” on Staplers Road.
Her proposal was brought before the committee for consideration because it is considered to be contentious among the “wider Island communities” and has a potentially significant impact on its local area, according to Mr Boulter’s committee report.
The council first received the application on 1st December 2021, with multiple rounds of revisions put forward since.
Adjustments to the boundary
Most recent changes uploaded to the council’s planning portal include adjustments to the boundary of the application site and general revisions to its block plan which were made public on 13th September 2024
In a memo published on 21st August 2024, council ecology officer Carolyn Herbert referred to a revised Preliminary Ecological Appraisal (PEA) submitted by Woodside Tree Consultancy on 12th August 2024.
Limited habitats on the site
A PEA is a site assessment used to identify possible ecological constraints and ecological value within and next to a site, minimise or prevent impacts on biodiversity and to inform the scope of future ecological appraisals.
Ms Herbert said,
“Habitats on the site are limited, connectivity to wider habitats is weak and the hedgerow assessment indicates that hedgerows are not classed as ‘important’.”
Letter to councillors
A letter sent from the council’s planning department to Isle of Wight councillors read,
“The issue relates to an inconsistency between plans and their annotations regarding whether a footpath link to Long Lane would be provided or not which, on reflection, may have caused confusion in respect of what the application was actually seeking consent for.
“In light of this I am now not satisfied that it should be put in front of you for consideration, so I am removing it from the agenda to enable further participation by members of the public on correct information.
“The issue will be resolved by the application being re-advertised with the correct and clear information and then I intend to bring it to the Planning Committee at the earliest opportunity.”
Article edit
5.05pm 27th Sep 2024 – IWC comment added
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
