Big step forward for Draft Island Planning Strategy

The Isle of Wight Council's planning blueprint for future development on the Island has taken a major step forward.

Full Council this week agreed to publish the Draft Island Planning Strategy to start the statutory process in which residents will have another opportunity to have their say.

The Draft IPS sets out the overall approach towards future development on the Island and the policies to be used in assessing planning applications.

The draft plan includes policies that mean that:

• new affordable homes are even more affordable to Islanders;
• more protection is given to the countryside; and
• new homes will be net zero carbon.

The plan balances social, economic and environmental issues and fronts up to some difficult decisions such as planning for 453 homes per year until 2037 — although 2,358 of these homes across 44 different sites already have planning permission.

By allocating just 24 more sites that don’t already have permission for the next 15 years, the plan can protect the Island from unwanted, speculative development, which is often on greenfield sites and rarely provides Island affordable homes.

It is considered that the evidence base that underpins the Draft IPS provides clear justification for an overall housing number which is nearly 40 per cent below the amount of housing the government expects the Island to deliver.

Councillor Paul Fuller, Cabinet member for planning, coastal protection and flooding, welcomed the council’s decision.

He said “ I know that bringing a new local plan forward is often difficult, because it asks big questions and raises issues that generate strong feelings.

"The council’s decision is not the end of the process, but means we can move forward to the formal stages and put an agreed version of the plan, and all the evidence that underpins it, to our residents, to our businesses, to anyone interested in the future of our island to give their views on it to an independent Planning Inspector.

"I’d like to say a big thank you to our small planning policy team who have worked extremely hard for a number of years putting the draft plans and evidence base together in what have often been challenging circumstances."

James Brewer, planning policy manager, said: "The Full Council decision is a really positive step forward for the Island.

"Being able to publish the draft plan and then submit to government gets us closer to a new adopted plan, which will provide certainty for everyone involved in the planning process and help address some of the key issues the Island faces.

"The community and stakeholders still have an opportunity to comment on the plan when we publish and all of these comments will be considered by the independent planning inspector."

Ollie Boulter, strategic manager for planning and infrastructure, added: "The Draft IPS provides a wide range of new tools in the planning tool box that enables us to tackle the issues we face today with up-to-date policies on issues such as flooding and climate change, housing affordability and our aging population.

"It also helps provide certainty to our Island, thinking about the future and our settlements and services moving forward. This is a key document in relation to many other decisions, such as school place planning, public health provision and inward investment."

The Draft IPS will now move through a formal process set by national government with the local authority publishing the document and seeking public comments for a period of six weeks.

After that it will be submitted to the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities along with all the comments received, who will then appoint a planning inspector to hold public hearings and then produce a final report.

Once this process is completed the council will have the opportunity to adopt the local plan based on the inspector’s recommendations.