Those behind a major housing scheme on the Isle of Wight need to fix its problems and talk to residents, the local councillor has said.
IW Cllr Warren Drew, for Ryde South East, said the controversial Pennyfeathers development was not fit for purpose after its next stage was rejected by the Isle of Wight Council last week.
Cllr Drew also slammed the scheme and those behind it — Hepburns Planning Consultancy and Smallbrook Developments — for a lack of consultation.
He said the developers had fundamentally failed to engage with the community nor take onboard their concerns.
Had they listened, Cllr Drew said, the planning committee may have been able to look more favourably at the scheme.
The last public consultation held on the development was in 2017 and residents said they have had no communication with anyone involved in the project since.
It was not for the planning committee to ‘mend’ the application and make it ‘palatable’, Cllr Drew said, as multiple conditions had been proposed to ‘fix’ the scheme.
The committee should be judging what is before them, he said, and when something requires so much work to make it acceptable, it was no longer the developer’s plans.
Speaking about the future of the site, should another plan come back, Cllr Drew would welcome it as the land is suitable for development but the current plan, he said, was not fit for purpose.
A new scheme would have to be well thought out, he said and would need a consultation with the local community.
“Ryde residents are mostly of the view we need housing in the town, particularly starter and affordable homes,” Cllr Drew said.
“We have a crisis, particularly in the rental sector where two-thirds of private landlords have left the market.
“If the 900 homes were of the right affordability, I would say yes they are needed.
“I am not against development and I would welcome genuinely affordable and social-rented accommodation.”
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