County Hall refused the latest attempt to put 12 houses on the edge of an Isle of Wight town yesterday evening (Tuesday).
The council’s planning committee rejected Mrs C. Ferns’ revised proposal for a development with vehicle and pedestrian access on Landscape Lane on the outskirts Newport.
Against officers’ recommendation
The rejection went against officers’ recommendation which was for conditional approval.
It was declined due to a lack of ‘adequate provision’ for ‘safe pedestrian access’ to public footways and local services, deemed detrimental to both pedestrian and highway safety, in wording put forward by Oliver Boulter, strategic manager for planning and infrastructure delivery.
Brodie: We’re missing an opportunity here
Councillor Geoff Brodie, representative for Pan and Barton, said,
“People do regularly walk through the area, there are rights of way nearby, crossing the road is not good.
“We’re missing an opportunity here for a good pedestrian crossing.
“I’d like to formally propose that we refuse this application, largely on highway safety issues.”
Price: Unbelievably dangerous and embarrassing
Councillor Matthew Price, representative for Fairlee and Whippingham, said,
“The local highway footway network is not improved and is in fact disadvantaged by this application.
“The complete ignoring of the Long Lane connectivity is unbelievably dangerous and embarrassing.”
Salmon: There are not enough houses being built
Town planning consultant Phil Salmon, Mrs Ferns’ agent, said,
“The scheme is fully compliant with adopted local planning policy and now the new National Planning Policy Framework published just at the end of last week.
“Housing need for the Island is under new calculation methods, now at over 1,000 dwellings per year whilst the submitted Island planning strategy provides just 453 per year.
“This is reflective of historic under-achievement of housing delivery against actual need.
“There are not enough houses being built, evident by the lack of opportunities for local people to rent or buy or move within the housing market.”
The plans
The Landscape Lane proposal included two four bed houses, three bungalows, five three bed houses and two two bed houses.
Recent revisions include an adjusted site boundary and general revisions to the application’s block plan, announced in September.
Committee members voted on Mrs Ferns’s application due to it being ‘contentious’ among the ‘wider Island communities’ and its ‘potential significant impact’ on the proposed development site’s locality, a council report said.
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
