You may remember the suggestion made by a VB reader last week that the planning application for part demolition of the Ventnor Rock was the result of a single complaint.
The original report about the planning permission attracted a great deal of comment from VB readers, many of whom seemed mystified as to the reasons behind the planning application.
The application on the council Website itself attracted over 50 comments from residents, which appear to be mostly objections to the plans.
How many complaints?
We got in touch with the council and asked, “A VB commentor has alleged that there was only one complaint from one member of the public about its safety. Could you find out if this is true. If not how many complaints there were, over what period?”
Peter Hayward, Isle of Wight Council Head of Highways and Transport, gave us this response, “Whilst we have not received significant numbers of complaints about this outcrop of rock we have assessed the safety issues in response to concerns being raised after a piece of rock fell from the outcrop onto the footway.
“We have found that the outcrop overhanging the footway is unstable to the degree that large pieces of rock can simply be pulled from the face by hand and there is a real danger of falling rocks. We have had to barrier off this section of footway to keep people safe and have raised the issue with the landowner who would be liable in the event of an accident.
“It is this which has prompted the planning application and until the outcrop can be made safe the temporary barriers must remain in place.”
“just the one person”
When we pushed further for an exact number of complaints, we were told by the Media and Web Content Officer, “I can look into it further but I don’t think we have had any formal complaints about it, just the one person who was almost hit by a falling rock, who helpfully flagged their concern.
“The number of complaints isn’t really relevant to the issue if it is a matter of safety and if something needs investigating – we will.
“As indicated in the statement, we advised the landowner of our findings and it was down to the landowner to decide whether or not to alter the outcrop as they would face the liability in the event of an incident.”
So it appears that the comment left by CPRE alleging that the entire planning application was a result of one person’s complaint was true.
