Planning shift could unlock empty Sandown seafront hotels

Sandown South councillor Ian Ward says years of work to resolve long‑standing planning barriers for empty hotels on the seafront is finally paying off, after the Isle of Wight Council signalled a change in its approach to keeping former hotels as tourism properties, regardless of how viable they are.

Cllr Ward, who has spent several years working with IW Council planning officers, legal advisors, and the Official Receiver on stalled hotel sites, said the long‑standing policy that restricted seafront hotels to tourism use had become a major obstacle to regeneration.

Over this time he attended four court hearings and held extensive discussions in an effort to find a workable solution for owners and developers.

He determined that the final barrier was the council’s policy safeguarding seafront hotels exclusively for tourism. After raising the issue with the Head of Planning he was invited to a meeting of the Local Planning Strategy team, where the tourism policy was under review.

“I was pleased that the consensus was that the policy was outdated,” he said. The final report is expected in April, and Cllr Ward says officers are confident the change will be confirmed.

In the meantime, following a Policy, Finance & Resources Committee briefing on housing supply, Cllr Ward has outlined how the emerging Local Plan could help bring empty buildings back into use. He explained the committee had already recommended removing one proposed housing site and increasing the number of new homes delivered through “windfall sites” – unplanned developments such as conversions of empty hotels and other unused buildings. “This could make a significant difference to towns like Sandown,” he said, adding that owners would be encouraged to submit suitable applications.

Planning officers have already agreed that a small number of non‑seafront hotels can be converted into residential accommodation, and Cllr Ward hopes seafront and other properties will follow once the updated policy becomes widely known. He said the change could finally unlock several long‑derelict buildings in Sandown, adding: “This has taken years of work, but we are now in a position where owners and developers have real options again.”