Isle of Wight News on Ventnor Blog

News reaches us that a group of local residents who campaigned to stop development along Petticoat Lane in Newport by supermarket giant Sainsbury’s, will be holding a vigil at the site this weekend.

From noon on Sunday, residents who fought to stop the development will be saying farewell to the grand old Chestnut trees that line the path.

The campaign to stop the route along the quiet and scenic path, taken by many, being moved to a busy main road, had the support of the Open Spaces Society.

However, objectors lost their battle at a public inquiry to protect the historic route, which dates back 1793.

Image: nikoretro under CC BY 2.0

Later this month Today sees the deadline for residents’ views to be heard regarding a development on the site of 26 Bellevue Road, Ryde (VB readers will remember an article published last October regarding a previous application. Ed).

The Ryde North East Heritage Group have contacted VB regarding their fight against the plans for a development of sheltered housing in the road, consisting of 21 flats.

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Many thanks to VB reader Richard, who wrote to us earlier in the week suggesting that some readers might be in interested in this current planning application by Hover Travel.

Looking through the application, it appears that Hover Travel are applying to extend the service times to 5.45am and 11pm.

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Before Friday 12th March, the next stage in the development of ‘Super Pan Development,’ will take place.

Cllr Peter Bingham and Cllr Dawn Cousins will either select the development partner between a choice of two organisations, or halt the scheme.

Clearly getting a huge project like this moving is not a simple task and many stages have been gone through already, which we’ve abridged below.

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After nine years of problems with Undercliff Drive, proposals by the Isle of Wight Council for improving Ventnor’s road access have garnered a luke-warm response from residents.

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The Ventnor Town Council will be meeting tonight for their regular Plans and Winter Gardens committee meetings.

The Plans meeting will consider a couple of local planning applications, allowing time for members of the public to make statements regarding planning issues.

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Good news for those interested in discussions surrounding the redevelopment of the Brading Experience and unable to attend the Brading Town Council meeting tonight.

VB is reporting live from the meeting which is due to start shortly.

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We’re all too well aware of the problems that a series of landslides have had on the Ventnor/Niton Undercliff Road over the years.

A multi million pound stabilisation scheme was called to a halt over two years ago, but as mother nature stops for no man, the problem of further landslides is a worrying reality still being faced by those who live and use the road between Ventnor to Niton.

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There’s growing unrest in some quarters of Brading about a number of things residents feel are being foisted on the town.

Following a meeting held last Sunday which was attended by well-over seventy people, a new group, the Brading Residents’ Action Group (BRAG) has been formed to work together to bring a united voice to their concerns.

They got in touch with VentnorBlog to tell us about the depth of their unhappiness, asking if we can help spread the word for them.

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The tribunal hearing the case for Cllr Andy Sutton, ex-leader of the council’s involvement with the Craven Court planning application, has today announced it’s notice of decision, a full report is yet to be released.

The tribunal has declared that Cllr Sutton should be suspended from the Isle of Wight Council for six months for failing to declare an interest in the planning application, for improperly seeking to influence the decision with a senior planning officer and for bringing his position as Leader and the council into disrepute.

Cllr Sutton’s suspension will start on 1 February 2010.

Code of Conduct Training
The tribunal also made the recommendation that further training should be provided for Members of the Council on the Code of Conduct.

As readers of VB and residents of Ventnor will know, a public consultation is taking place at the moment for changes to parking and traffic restrictions in Ventnor.

We first reported on the consultation a couple of weeks ago, which was followed up with a report from the Ventnor Town Council (VTC) meeting, where members of the public voiced their concerns over the proposed changes to parking in St Catherine’s Street.

Removal of 20 parking spaces
Residents in St Catherine’s Street and surrounding roads are angry at the proposed changes which will see 20 parking spaces removed from the road, having a detrimental effect on those using the road, as well as neighbouring roads that are already struggling to accommodate parking for all.

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As mentioned a couple of weeks ago on VB, the Ventnor Town Council (VTC) recently considered the revised application for the development of Beachlands on Ventnor Seafront.

The previous applications had been refused by the VTC, as was this revised version, on the grounds of over-development and not within keeping of the conservation area.

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Anyone who has been a reader of VB over the years will know that we think that the way the planning department and its enforcement unit at the Isle of Wight Council (IWC) are run is important. They have the responsibility of keeping an eye and hand on large parts of the where we live.

Reading in the CP last week that the Isle of Wight council had accelerated an enforcement issue from a complaint to the actual drafting of an enforcement notice in less than a month, we were compelled to find out more.

It was all over a 35m high art spar in Gate House Lane, Ashey – an attractive and rather interesting artwork which is a prototype being tested prior to manufacture.

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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.

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We’ve just heard that the Isle of Wight council planning committee approved the planning permission for the “Super Pan” expansion of the Pan Estate.

The votes were eleven votes in favour, with one against.

Local councillor, Cllr Geoff Lumley, raised concerns last week that the application seemed to be “steamrolling through the planning system.” The council responded that they were merely being efficient.

Just because it’s nearly Christmas doesn’t mean a light workload for Isle of Wight Councillors.

Today’s Planning Committee is expected to result in a packed public gallery as some contentious applications are considered.

Conditional permission is being recommended for the large housing development planned for the Pan Estate.

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The Ventnor Town Council will be meeting tonight to consider several local planning applications.

Included in the list is one from the Ventnor Golf Club for three wind turbines, as well as two re-applications for the development of Beachlands and Cedar Lodge , both of which are on Ventnor seafront.

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According to the agenda for the next Planning Committee (15th December), the proposed development of the Pan Estate (dubbed ‘Super Pan’) will be heard at the meeting, just three months after its submission.

Local IW Councillor for Newport East, Geoff Lumley, has been in touch with a ‘letter to the editor’ and is not a happy man.

The application is being made by the IW Council itself and Cllr Lumley is unhappy about the fact that the application seems to be steamrolling through the planning system, when the same type of application for private developers normally takes much longer.

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Tonight in front of a packed hall, public representations were heard from supporters and objectors to the planning application to site three wind turbines on Cheverton Down.

This was no ordinary planning meeting held at County Hall. Due to the massive interest from the public this was held at Carisbrooke High School, a venue able to take up to 440 people.

In a change to the usual format of planning meetings, many more than usual were allowed to express their opinions, but after the lengthy consideration by the Isle of Wight Planning Committee, the vote resulted in

There were members of the committee against the application, but this did not affect the majority vote.

The application was rejected six votes against three.

To learn who said what read out transcript of the event as it was happening.

Image: .Martin.

The Isle of Wight Planning Committee meets at Carisbrooke High School tonight to consider the revised plans for three wind turbines on Cheverton Down.

VB are reporting live from the meeting for the benefit of those unable to attend.

Please refresh your browser to see the latest updates. We will endeavour to report presentations and discussions as accurately as possible. Text surrounded by ** and () signifies comments.

[18:26] Tons of cars here … arrived a bit late

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Those were the words of David Pugh, Leader of the Isle of Wight Council, in May 2008.

Regular readers who have been following the wind turbine debate may remember the interview we did with David Pugh at the end of the Big Green Picnic last year.

We chatted about a new application that would be forthcoming for three turbines on Cheverton Down.

He told us, “I’ve made it quite clear, if we’re to be an Eco-Island, we have to have some on-shore Wind turbines.”

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Looks like members of the Eco Island Supporters Group have been having fun on the beach. Ed

While awaiting the outcome of the Planning Departments decision this Thursday evening, the Eco Island Supporters group ponder on a possible future for the Island.

The Eco-Island Supporters Group staged a mock-up of a picnic in a park, which may well disappear under water in a couple of decades due to rising sea levels

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There’s a proposal to expand the Brighstone conservation area – originally designated in December 1969 – to include parts of Brook, Freshwater Bay, Hulverstone and Mottistone.

The decision will be made by Cllr George Brown under a deligated decision following a public consultation was held by IW council between 31 July – 25 September.

The new areas each have their own designated zones, which are detailed below …

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After hearing the news of planning officer’s recommendations to refuse the planning application by Cornwall Light & Power (CL&P) to construct three wind turbines on Cheverton Down, we spoke with Steve Allen the main spokesman for the company.

He told us that the news was a huge disappointment, given expensive extensive (apologies for error, I misheard extensive as expensive) work already put in, but reminded us that planning consent was already in place for three smaller turbines.

When pushed on what CL&P would do if the application was refused at the meeting next week, Mr Allen said there were only two options; to appeal to the Planning Inspectorate, or go ahead and build the three smaller turbines.

He stated that “whatever happens at the meeting next week, there would be turbines on Cheverton Down.”

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Plans to develop and extend Cowes Yacht Haven have now been lodged with the Isle of Wight Council and are open for public consultation.

The Cowes Waterfront Trust who own the site plan to replace some of the currently tenanted buildings with new, purpose-built and affordable buildings.

The planned improvements will also increase winter boatyard facilities and hopes to integrate the yacht haven with the town by creating a new pedestrian route directly from the the High Street onto the new open space.

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