West Acre Park Housing Scheme Back Before Planners As Officers Recommend Approval

Captiva Homes has said it is “delighted” with Isle of Wight planners’ recommendation to approve its 473-home West Acre Park proposal.

Its CEO Iain Delaney has spoken out in light of a new planning committee report advising the controversial Ryde proposal is conditionally accepted subject to conditions and legal agreement.

County Hall’s planning committee will consider the revised plans, which include commercial space, a doctor’s surgery and a cafe, at a meeting beginning at 4pm yesterday (Tuesday).

Mr Delaney told the press:

“We are pleased to see the application returning to the planning committee to rectify the procedural issue with the publication of the Section 106 agreement.

“West Acre Park continues to be hugely important for housing delivery on the Island, and therefore we are delighted to see that officers continue to recommend the application for approval.”

Elmfield residents group Greenfields, which opposes the project, said it was “grateful” the council’s planning department had communicated its position “unequivocally”.

“Upon completion of its legal review and following Tuesday’s meeting the company and its resident shareholders will reciprocate.”

Greenfields previously took the local authority to court over its prior granting of consent for West Acre Park in a case that reached the Court of Appeal.

Following an April hearing at the Royal Courts of Justice in London, judges ordered the quashing of the 2023 permission due to the council failing to publish a Section 106 planning obligation before its consent.

Section 106 planning obligations are mechanisms to make development proposals acceptable by mitigating their effects, often involving financial contributions from developers for affordable housing or infrastructure provision.

The new planning committee report says:

“The benefits associated with the delivery of housing, the creation of jobs, the provision of land for a new doctors’ surgery and the provision of public accessible areas of open space are considered by officers to continue to provide socio-economic benefits to the Island.

“The development would provide wider sustainability benefits to the community that outweigh the flood risk, and the development would be safe for its lifetime, without increasing flood risk elsewhere, and, where possible, will reduce flood risk overall.”

Planners put forward a variety of planning obligations for the developer including a £1,507,033 financial contribution for highway works and two Public Rights of Way.

They also suggest 33 conditions relating to legislation and planning policy, highway safety, ecological and noise mitigation, the interests of the area’s character and neighbouring properties, and reducing flood risk.