The Isle of Wight council has missed out on funding to build homes on brownfield sites.
The money would have come from government in the second round of the Brownfield Land Release Fund.
£180 million pot
The government has made £180 million available to authorities to build homes on council-owned brownfield sites — land which has previously been developed.
Success in first round
The Isle of Wight council was successful in the first round of funding last year, being awarded £950,000 to bring forward around 70 homes across three sites.
They were at the former Island Learning Centre in Lake, Thompson House in Gatcombe and the former Weston Academy in Totland.
Work underway
Work has been progressing towards providing houses on the sites as they had recently been marketed.
Offers are currently being evaluated.
Not able to bid or funding
However, now the second round of funding has opened — which could have seen further much-needed housing delivered on the Island — the Isle of Wight council has announced it will not be able to bid for funding.
Brownfield sites are a favoured location for housing schemes on the Island — as opposed to building on green fields — but they are more expensive to develop, which is where the funding would have come in handy.
Jones-Evans: Out of date Island Plan
Speaking at the Isle of Wight council’s cabinet meeting last night (Thursday), Cllr Julie Jones-Evans confirmed the council would miss out on funding due to the lack of an up-to-date planning strategy.
The council has been trying to bring forward a new planning strategy — setting out the Island’s housing targets and policies to judge an application on — for the last few years, but it has continually stalled.
Recent progress
In the last year, the Alliance administration has built on the work of the previous Conservative councillors, taking the draft Island Planning Strategy out to consultation.
It is now ready to be sent to the government for approval, but needs full council’s consent first before it can be.
Deferred until September
It was due to be approved earlier in the year by full council, but due to issues noted by councillors was deferred until September.
Coupled with the Island’s failure to meet government housing targets, the planning authority falls into the presumption in favour of sustainable development, which means unless there is something majorly wrong with a housing scheme it should be passed.
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
Image: © Isle of Wight Council
