Isle of Wight second homes must be restricted says councilors

These are some of the changes the Isle of Wight Council's scrutiny body would like made to the Island's planning blueprint.

The draft Island Planning Strategy (DIPS) is coming before councillors for approval later this month, a year after it was first tabled.

The plan, once approved, will include policies developers have to abide by and earmark priority housing sites.

The current strategy the Isle of Wight Council uses is out of date and means the authority is penalised by the 'tilted balance', which favours development unless there is something majorly wrong.

Some final changes to the DIPS have been suggested by the corporate scrutiny committee (CSC), however.

It believes the cabinet should adopt them before the DIPS goes to full council for approval.

These include:

• Ensuring sustainable development is on brownfield sites in areas where it is most needed by increasing the number of houses expected to be built in Newport, at Camp Hill, Newport Harbour and a new site, Newport Riverside, which is publicly owned land incorporating County Hall, the police station and the currently empty area at the bottom of Pyle Street.
• Protecting the environment by only developing greenfields if it is absolutely necessary — removing housing sites in Bembridge and Freshwater as the CSC argues there is no local need.
• Restricting second home and short-term let ownership of new build properties.

It is understood, should the amendments be refused, Conservative councillors at County Hall would vote against the DIPS, potentially blocking its adoption and delaying the process longer.

The need to adopt the planning strategy has been highlighted by multiple councillors as well as the Local Government Association (LGA) in a recent peer review.

• Read more: Review finds arguments, stress and lack of trust in planning department

The LGA said the authority needed to urgently finalise and adopt the strategy because without one it was possible developments could happen that are 'deemed not in the public interest and outside the needs of local people'.

• Read about changes proposed to the strategy earlier this year here.

However, reacting to the comments, Cllr Joe Robertson, Conservative group leader, said he rejected the suggestions councillors should back any plan for the sake of having one, especially now the amendments have created something 'wholly more beneficial' to Islanders on the housing waiting list and for the environment.

Cllr Robertson said he was pleased with what the cross-party CSC has presented which provides a "greener plan and with more genuinely affordable housing opportunities for Islanders who need them most."

He said: "I am confident the CSC will back the amendments and I cannot see any good reason for cabinet to reject them.

"If cabinet does, I will be making the argument to all councillors that full council should reject a poorer plan when a better draft exists. If the matter has to be returned to cabinet to look again then so be it."

• Read more: Planning strategy delay means Island misses out on housing funding bid