Councillors Vote To Press Ahead With Former Sandown School Site Sale

(c) IW Council

Councillors have decided to press ahead with the sale of a former Isle of Wight school site to a developer, though final terms are still to be approved.

Last Thursday, the policy, finance and resources committee opted to accept a sale offer from Strategic Green Land (SGL) for the former Sandham Middle School site on Sandown’s Perowne Way.

SGL is looking to build around 70 new homes at the brownfield site – a proposal the council has described as its ‘highest offer’ received in a report written prior to Thursday’s meeting.

Officers wrote:

“The former Sandham Middle School site, Perowne Way, Sandown ceased education use in 2014.

"The school buildings have since been demolished therefore the site is a cleared brownfield site ready for redevelopment.

“SGL’s current proposal is to redevelop the site to 74 residential dwellings.

"For this number of houses 25 dwellings would be affordable (35 per cent) under planning policy.

"The number of dwellings may however change as a result of the planning application process.

“Acceptance of this offer ensures that the council achieves best consideration on the sale of the site and will, subject to planning permission and completion of the development, ensure delivery of much-needed housing on the Isle of Wight.”

Almost all of the committee members present last week voted to accept SGL’s sale offer.

Those in favour included councillors Andrew Garratt, Chris Quirk, Ian Ward and Jonathan Bacon.

Empowering Islanders representative Cllr Chris Jarman was the sole opponent.

The committee’s vote authorises the strategic director of corporate services, Sharon Betts, to approve the sale’s final terms.

Full details of the sale offer are confidential under the Local Government Act 1972 due to being ‘commercially sensitive’ until the sale is complete.

Cllr Jarman has been contacted for a comment.