Residents have until 5pm on Friday to share their views on the draft Island Planning Strategy.
The Island Planning Strategy is a document that, once approved by the Isle of Wight council, will guide development on the Island over the next 15 years.
As the previous Island Plan was out of date, the council’s new administration (Alliance Group) who came into power in May 2021 were keen to get the ball rolling on this important matter, taking the view that the sooner they start, the sooner they can complete it.
Consequences of no Island Plan
Without an Island Plan which dictates the housing target each year, the council’s planning department are now having to work under presumption of favour for all sustainable developments.
According to one Cabinet member, this has resulted in a deluge of planning applications.
An evolving document
When they launched the consultation, the Alliance were keen to stress that it’s a draft document which they want to see develop.
It not only covers housing developments, but also sets out targets for biodiversity, designating local green spaces, support for a new dark skies park, maintaining and enhancing the Island’s Biosphere Reserve status and ensuring enough land is allocated for employment and regeneration.
The Strategy document itself (see below) is massive at 252 pages and has eight appendices. Even if you don’t have time to read the whole thing, it’s worth having a skim through the documents so you can give informed feedback.
Background reading
The subject has been covered extensively over the last few weeks, so also have a look through the Island Plan archives.
Head over to the Isle of Wight council’s Website to find out more and links to all the documents.
Summary doc below followed by full doc.
Image: Shivendu Shukla under CC BY 2.0
