Contentious Bid To Demolish Seaside Village Garage Re-Emerges

A contentious bid to demolish a garage in ‘very poor condition’ in an Isle of Wight coastal village’s conservation area has re-emerged.

Mr and Mrs Rivlin filed plans with County Hall to replace a building known as ‘The Garage’ on Seaview’s Circular Road with a new domestic storage and garage structure.

The applicants say the development will ‘make better use of the site’ and ‘improve the aesthetic fronting to Circular Road’, while being ‘significantly smaller in scale’ than previous applications.

Council planners refused plans for a replacement garage and personal art studio at the site in March, saying they would have no ‘public benefit’ and would ‘cause harm’ to the Seaview Conservation Area.

Officers also refused a previous site proposal in December last year.

Nettlestone and Seaview Parish Council also opposed the application rejected in March, citing concerns including overdevelopment, a ‘loss of light’, the proposed building being ‘overbearing’ for neighbours and it being ‘out of keeping’ with the conservation area.

A Design and Access Statement written by the Goddard Partnership for the Rivlins’ latest application says:

“The garage/store is a part single, part two storey building.

"It has a mono-pitched corrugated asbestos roof and an asbestos tiled two storey element within.

“The structure is in a very poor condition. This application largely is similar to the previous proposals whereby the existing buildings will demolished and replaced with a new building with the same storage use.

“We have proposed a simple materials palette of facing brick with a natural slate roof to sit harmoniously with the existing surrounding Victorian residential buildings.”

The council’s public consultation on application 25/00962/FUL finishes on August 8 and a decision is due on September 3.