The revised set of plans for Wight City Leisure Centre in Sandown, the site that previously included Bogeys nightclub, have now been made public.
Over fifty documents have been published on the Isle of Wight council Website, showing
- Eight 1-Bed; Thirty one 2-Bed; and eight 3-Bed units, totalling 47 bedrooms. The current buildings have 34 bedrooms.
- Under the building are 68 car parking places and spaces for 54 cycles.
- A restaurant/cafe is included at street level on the West of the site, which is roughly twice the size of the current facility, giving 632m2 floor space.
- The ‘Drinking establishment’, as it’s rather quaintly referred to on the council’s form, would be removed.
Significantly reduced height from previous plans
The image above shows how the latest submitted plan – this is the third – has scaled down the height on the development significantly. Paul White from the development’s agent, Genesis Town Planning, told OnTheWight,
“It’s a site on the entrance to Sandown and it can support a landmark building, so we wanted to retain the sense of a landmark building, when you’re approaching Sandown. At the same time pay due regard to the surrounding, existing residential development in that area.”
Public consultation
Paul also told OnTheWight that a flyer was posted to 3-4,000 residents in the local area (also included in the planning council documents and reproduced below). They received 50-60 email responses with, “the majority of respondents are absolutely delighted by it, because they do think the area needs sorting out.”
The planning Public consultation is now open and due to close on 28 Feb 2014. All of the documents can be found there.
Cllr Ward: Fully supportive
Cllr Ian Ward, Member for Sandown South, and current Chairman of the Isle of Wight council, told OnTheWight, “I fully support this application. It is better that the original proposal and if the application is successful and it gets built it will lift the morale of Sandown’s residents.”
Addressing a more general point, Cllr Ward said,
“I believe that the development of Sandown and the Bay area in general is being impeded by two planning polices that need to be reviewed as a matter of urgency.
“The first relates to the defence of tourist accommodation. Tourism has changed out of all recognition in the last couple of decades but the policy does not take that into account. The second is the imposition of a Conservation zone on parts of Sandown that, in my opinion, just don’t warrant it. These two policies discourage inward investment in Sandown.
“Investors have told me that it is much easier to do development business on the mainland, that’s that why the island struggles to attract such investment.”
Leaflet
Image: © Used with the kind permission of Genesis town planning
