Draft Island Planning Strategy
A new local plan called the Island Planning Strategy
Overview
The council is in the process of preparing a new local plan called the Island Planning Strategy (IPS). We submitted this plan to government in October 2024.
- Download the submission version of the IPS (PDF, 2MB)
- View the policies map as submitted with the Island Planning Strategy
The Government appointed Planning Inspectors in November 2024 and they held two weeks of examination hearings into the content of the new plan in late February / early March 2025.
In April 2025, the Planning Inspectors sent a letter to the council saying they required the council to make changes to the Island Planning Strategy carried out to address some concerns they had.
In May 2025, the council decided to carry out that further work and the Planning Inspectors then paused the formal examination process for 6 months to allow the council to do the work.
All details about the progress of the examination can be found on the dedicated IPS examination web pages.
Public consultation in late 2025 / early 2026
In November 2025, the council agreed a package of proposed changes to the draft Island Planning Strategy to address the concerns of the Planning Inspectors. These changes were agreed at a meeting of Full Council.
Consultation on proposed changes to the Island Planning Strategy - December 2025
A 6 week period of public consultation took place on the proposed changes (not the rest of the Island Planning Strategy) and this ran from Monday 1 December 2025 until Monday 12 January 2026. The consultation is now closed
Now that the consultation has finished, the council will send the proposed changes, and all of the comments made during the consultation, back to the Planning Inspectors by the end of January.
The Planning Inspectors will then ‘re-start’ the formal examination process and consider whether they agree with the changes.
All updates on next steps will be published on the Island Planning Strategy examination web page.
The proposed changes in key areas of the Draft Island Planning Strategy
1. Housing shortfall
Eight additional sites and two policy amendments to meet a shortfall of 315 homes over the next five years.
2. Sustainability appraisal
Updates to the Integrated Sustainability Appraisal (ISA), which supports the strategy.
- Scope of updated ISA work (PDF, 136KB)
- ISA Stage A Scoping Check 2025 (PDF, 645KB)
- Integrated Sustainability Appraisal 2025 version (Including Appendix 1) (PDF, 3MB)
- IPS ISA Appendix 2 - Spatial strategy options indicative growth maps (PDF, 3MB)
- IPS ISA Appendix 3 Assessment of housing sites compressed (PDF, 11MB)
- IPS ISA Appendix 4 Assessment of Health &Employment Sites (PDF, 2MB)
- IPS ISA Appendix 5 ISA IPS Workshop March 2022 Outputs (PDF, 268KB)
- IPS ISA Appendix 6 ISA Reg18 Amendment Screening November 2023 (PDF, 268KB)
- IPS ISA Appendix 7 HRA Findings, Mitigation & Conclusions (PDF, 216KB)
3. Policy C11
Removal of the policy requiring all new development to be net zero, to align with national guidance.
4. Affordable housing viability
Revised evidence shows that delivering 35 per cent affordable housing is not viable across the Island. A reduction is proposed in some areas, while retaining the ‘Island affordable’ definition to ensure deeper discounts than national policy.
5. Ancient woodland buffer – Policy EV5
A reduction in the buffer zone between ancient woodland and new development, from 50 metres to 15 metres, in line with national advice.