AN independent planning inspector has decided that a scheme to build a group of new houses on the southern side of Bride village should go ahead, subject to some minor amendments.
However, Mr Alan Langton - an experienced planning inspector - said in his report that the Department of Infrastructure’s handling of the matter was in question and that one of the objectors to the plan had been treated as “a nuisance”.
Mr Langton said in his lengthy 25-page report that he had “an uncomfortable feeling” that the objector was seen as a nuisance and had been improperly questioned and had been singled out, “not by name for quite evidently”, in a statement to Tynwald. Mr Langton added that this “must have been hurtful.”
He also said he had been left with the feeling that the concerns and objections of those who supported the planning proposal in principle had been downplayed.
He added, “Some of these concerns, such as the maximum number of houses or the particular accesses, are fundamental.”
In his report issued yesterday, Alan Langton, recommended that the size of the mainly affordable units project be reduced from 27 properties to 24 and that the developers should return with plans offering better car parking, more open space, a tree belt on the boundary and proposals for reducing energy consumption and improving energy efficiency.
Mr Langton’s recommendations come at the end of a process which included a public inquiry held in September. Although there was only one official objector - a former Bride resident - there were a number of reservations expressed about the scale of the project by local residents and also the MHK for the area Eddie Teare, now the Treasury Minister.
The original planning application - made by the Department of Infrastructure - was described as being “the best opportunity to facilitate affordable housing in the north by government in the next five years”. In its application, the government said there was a need to ensure there was sufficient housing to meet demands created by the growth in population and changing household sizes.
The scheme is intended to be self funding with a mixture of building types, helping to provide “a sense of place,” with the possibility of some of the properties being used for sheltered housing. Local housing statistics also showed there was a demand from a number of people who would prefer to live in the Bride area.
Similar schemes have happened around the Island with projects completed in recent years at Archallagan in Foxdale, Cronk Grianagh in Braddan and Ridgeway Road in Onchan.
The inspector’s report also highlighted that the Bride Village Study, conducted in 1991, said it was “essential” that the character of the village and the views from the northern side should be retained.
Infrastructure Minister David Cretney said he is now “considering whether and how to proceed” with the decision and the conditions laid down by the inspector. He said an announcement would be made “at a later date”.
