Last night the Ventnor Town Council Planning Committee met at the Winter Gardens to consider local planning applications.
They were met by a busy public audience (around 40 people), which was not surprising, given the fact that the first application to be considered was that of three wind turbines to be sited at Ventnor Golf Club (VGC).
Declarations of interest
The meeting started with declarations of interest, Cllr Scoccia for being on the IWC Planning Committee, Cllr Welsford as a member of Greenpeace and Cllr Mew (who left the room during the discussion) as he is connected to the VGC.
Questions not statements
In a change to the usual protocol, whereby the public have 15 minutes to make a statement regarding the applications being considered, the audience were told by the chair of the committee, Cllr Garlick that they would have 10 minutes to ask questions (we understand the Cllr Lucas was who previous chair of the committee recently resigned from the post).
Perhaps caught out by the last minute change of protocol, several members of the public attempted to make statements regarding the application, but were cut short by the chair who insisted that only questions could be asked.
Public questions
One member of the public asked whether the TC would take into account the flicker of movement on televisions that the turbines might cause, noise from the swoosh of turbine blades, any possible land slippage as a result of the installation or whether that in Europe they cannot be built within 2km of residential dwellings.
The chair replied that the TC could only judge the application against UK planning law and would not be taking regulations in other countries into account.
Another member of the public asked who he should write to in order to get a reduction on his council tax bill due to the loss of amenity, as he felt that he’d longer longer be able to walk near where the turbines will be sited.
The audience didn’t let their frustration go unheard, as shouts of “answer the question” and “go home”.
Another member of the public asked that the TC do not consider the turbines as small, but large.
Councillor’s responses
Cllr Lucas (Ventnor East), who declared that he is in favour of the turbines, expressed his concern about the ‘prediction’ of noise levels in the Environmental Impact Report, suggesting that a condition be attached to the decision with regards to the exactness of the noise levels rather than predictions.
He went on to say that he felt that the VGC were doing their bit for the environment and that there would be a benefit to society. This was met with a mixture of calls of “rubbish” from some members of the audience and applause of support from others.
Cllr Bartlett (St Lawrence) also chose to make his views known, stating that the turbines would help the light blackouts in St Lawrence and that he was all in favour of them. He told the TC and audience that the turbines should be approved and built as quickly as possible.
This was met with some rather rude, personal and unnecessary comments from members of the public in the audience.
The vote
It was proposed by Cllr Bartlett that the application be approved (with the condition suggested by Cllr Lucas). It was seconded by Cllr Welsford.
Cllr Bartlett, Cllr Welsford, Cllr George, Cllr Lucas and Cllr Garlick all voted in favour. Cllrs Robinson and Perks abstained.
Comments such as “It’s a farce” and “It doesn’t matter anyway, the Isle of Wight Council doesn’t take any notice of them anyway” were heard from the audience.
Several members of the public approached the table of councillors at the end of this section of the meeting whilst others handed out photographic mock ups of the turbines on the gold course with the word ‘crazy golf’ written across the bottom. Despite the fact that several other applications were still to be heard by the VTC, most members of the audience started to shuffle out of the main hall, leaving just three or four of us.
The application will, of course, now go to the IWC Planning Committee where it’s fate will be decided. We’ll be sure to keep you updated.
