Houses for greed not need — that’s what the plan for a further 475 homes proposed by Captiva Homes on greenfield land at Westridge Farm in Elmfield (CP, 03-07-20).

The scheme called West Acre Park includes 25 acres of landscaped public parkland and a new GP surgery (we cannot get doctors for the existing surgeries), assets which are sprats to catch a whale.

And not satisfied with the other 80-home scheme, they now want 86 homes on prime grazing land.

When I was chairman of Nettlestone and Seaview Parish Council’s planning committee in the 1990s, the IW planning policy was to keep the gap between villages and hamlets but this development erodes the gap between Ryde and Seaview and Pondwell.

The developer says they are Island homes for Island people but in my opinion that is rubbish and it will attract more mainland buyers.

Why is the planning department allowing these vast developments, plus Pennyfeathers, which in total would bring nearly 1,500 homes and 3,000 cars to the Elmfield area? The infrastructure on the Island just cannot cope with it.

Westridge Farm is the only working dairy farm in the Ryde area and one of only nine milking herds on the IW.

The present tenant, Bernie Holliday, has been at the farm since 1966 and is the second generation, with his son, Nigel, the third generation, working alongside him.

The future looks bleak for this family if this development goes ahead, having already lost 11 acres of grazing land. Farming is much more than a job...it is a way of life. I was brought up in the farming circle, so I know.

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