Nearly 3,700 New Homes Needed As Isle Of Wight Council Updates Local Plan

Almost 3,700 homes would need to be built on the Isle of Wight over the next five years under major changes to the Island’s new local plan.

At a full council meeting on Wednesday (19 November), councillors voted through revisions to the draft Island Planning Strategy (IPS) following concerns raised by the Planning Inspectorate about the Island’s ability to deliver enough housing.

The updated figures set out a requirement for 3,691 homes over five years, including a buffer, with an annual target of 703 new homes.

The changes also mean some developments could provide fewer affordable homes than before, following a new viability report showing rising build and finance costs.

Under the new proposals:

• Lower-value brownfield sites would need just 15% affordable housing,

• Lower-value greenfield sites (under 50 homes) would require 20%,

• Higher-value sites would remain at 35%.

Council officers warned that keeping the old 35% requirement across all sites would risk the entire plan being ruled “unsound”.

The plan identifies eight potential housing areas, including greenfield sites such as Staplers Road and brownfield land at Sandown Airport and behind St Vincent’s Care Home in Ryde.

Islanders will be able to have their say during a six-week consultation running from December 1 to January 12, before the proposals are sent back to the Planning Inspectorate for further examination.

Only Cllr Warren Drew (Conservative, Ryde South East) abstained from the vote, with the rest of the chamber showing rare unanimity.

The changes also include removing a policy on net-zero carbon for new developments and reducing the proposed ancient woodland buffer from 50m to 15m due to viability issues.

Further tweaks recommended by the council’s Policy, Finance and Resources Committee — including removing the Former Ryde Theatre housing allocation and slightly increasing the windfall allowance — were also approved.