By Isle of Wight Observer
Many Islanders are worried about the amount of development on the Island; concerns which are shared by councillors across the chamber. To address these issues work is now underway to prepare the latest version of the Island Planning Strategy (IPS) for potential submission to the Planning Inspectorate by the IW Council.
To update IW Observer readers, the government has retained its pledge to build 300,000 new homes each year nationally. So under the current standard rules, the Isle of Wight is still ‘expected’ to build 730 units per year. Despite soundings from the government and expectations raised regarding a new policy for exceptional circumstances for Islands, the Levelling Up and Regeneration Act has now been passed into law and nothing has changed in respect of housing numbers. There are no special rules which will allow Islands to build fewer houses.
As this could prove to be a game changer for local housing figures, the Council still awaits an update. With that in mind and taking into account how long government policy takes to be changed and implemented, the council is instead suggesting that we submit the IPS taking into account our unique ‘special circumstances’ with arguments to reduce the current non-sustainable target figure of 730. This has recently proved successful elsewhere.
By using local evidence and data about these special circumstances, the housing figure number has been reduced to 453. This number better reflects the number of dwellings which are being built locally. According to specialist legal advice, this figure can be justified once the IPS is submitted and scrutinised.
Although our planners were asked to lower this figure even further, frustratingly the arguments were not considered robust enough to stand up to scrutiny from the Planning Inspectorate.
In summary, key aspects of the IPS due for consideration by full council include:
A reduction to the ‘expected’ government’s target housing figure from 730 to 453;
Removing the principle of supporting development ‘immediately adjacent to the settlement boundary’;
Bigger discounts for ‘affordable’ and ‘local connection’ housing;
Support for energy and water-efficient homes;
A policy to uphold residents’ concerns, where infrastructure is limited;
Promoting biodiversity net gains which benefit the surrounding area and community;
Effective management of flood risk in new development;
Supporting closer liaison with town, parish and community councils.
These policies were created following widespread consultations which started in 2018. Once adopted, the strategy will provide much sharper and more effective tools to challenge inappropriate development on our Island. If we do not take this action we will remain at the mercy of the presumption in favour of sustainable development, also known as the ’tilted balance’, which means that where developers meet the national definition of sustainable development it is much harder to refuse planning applications, however inappropriate they are on the Island.
Once we move to the next stage, there is still the opportunity to feedback comments to the inspector arguing that the figure should be reduced even further. We could also press the pause button should new evidence or policies come forward which recognise our Island’s unique characteristics.
In the meantime, I would like to thank Islanders for the thousands of comments and ongoing feedback made to move this plan which is so important for the Island’s future forward.