Isle of Wight councilors agreed to fight to return power to its planning department — to stop the ‘wrong kind of development’ — despite the move being branded as the ‘NIMBY charter’.
A heated debate on the issue saw the councillor bringing the motion being asked to leave the chamber by the Isle of Wight Council chairman. It didn’t come to that after he apologised to “the house”.
Under presumption in favour of sustainable development
At the moment, due to the Island’s under-delivery of housing in the last five years, the planning authority is under the presumption in favour of sustainable development.
This means there must be a significant adverse impact that outweighs the benefit of approving an application if the council is to reject a plan.
Spink: Right housing not being built for the right people
Referred to as the ’tilted balance’, Cllr Peter Spink wanted to get rid of this, and asked the leader of the council, Cllr Lora Peacey-Wilcox, to write to government requesting it be suspended.
He said he is not opposing housing being built, but the right housing was not being built for the right people and those best to make planning decisions is the planning officers.
Price: Avoids having to bow down to Government
Cllr Matt Price, a member of the council’s planning committee, said it was a difficult position to be in, and the suspension offered an interim solution so they did not have to bow down to the government anymore.
However, not everyone agreed.
Quigley: Looks like a NIMBY charter
Cllr Richard Quigley said it appeared as if they were discussing a housing crisis on the Island but the solution that was being discussed was to build fewer houses.
He said it effectively looked like a NIMBY charter, ensuring no houses could be built across the Island.
He did not agree with the tilted balance, but the motion did not address the housing issues, with no link to social or affordable houses for rent.
Others in agreement
Among those to agree with Cllr Quigley were chairman Cllr Geoff Brodie, cabinet member for housing needs, Cllr Ian Stephens and the cabinet member for adult social care, Cllr Karl Love.
Mosdell: Allow committee to get its teeth back
Cllr Clare Mosdell, however, said those councillors were getting carried away and this would allow the committee to get its teeth back until the Island Planning Strategy is in place.
Cllr Daryll Pitcher agreed with Cllr Mosdell and said the council has no control with these measures in place, leading to the wrong sort of housing being built, and it would continue to be a ‘free-for-all’ if nothing were to be done.
The motion passed with 27 in favour, four against and six abstentions.
Angry response
During the vote, after Cllr Quigley had cast his vote, laughter broke out, causing Cllr Spink to angrily respond it was no laughing matter.
An argument broke out between Cllr Spink and Cllr Brodie about conduct during the vote resulting in the chair asking Cllr Spink to leave the meeting.
Ten-minute stand-off
Cllr Spink refused and an almost ten-minute stand-off ensued where he continued to stand his ground, despite being asked by Conservative group leader, Cllr Steve Hastings, to follow the chairman’s order.
Resolving the matter, Cllr Spink apologised to Cllr Brodie and ‘the house’ for ‘getting overly excited’, saying the matter meant a great deal to him.
This article is from the BBC’s LDRS (Local Democracy Reporter Service) scheme, which News OnTheWight is part of. Read here to find about more about how that scheme works on the Island. Some alterations and additions may have been made by News OnTheWight. Ed
