Developing to blend, not to coalesce

Influence have helped secure outline planning permission at appeal for 86 dwellings on a greenfield site east of Cowes, Isle of Wight.

The former farmland site covers 7.08ha to the west of Place Road, outside of the current settlement boundary between Cowes and Gurnard. The original scheme was refused planning permission at committee referencing the Island’s Core Strategy Policy SP1 as grounds for refusal – a rather ambiguous policy that in the committee’s view would result in an inappropriate coalescence of the two settlements diminishing the local character.S174_PL03 Topograpghy LR cropInfluence were appointed by Penwood Developments Ltd to provide landscape and visual expertise and guidance on suitable design changes and mitigation on behalf of the appellant. Our detailed desk top study and field surveys addressed key sensitivities and resulted in minor revisions to the masterplan in the form of enhancement to the landscape proposals which in time would add to the local character.S174_PL01 Site Context cropBacked up by a robust methodology in accordance with the Guidelines for Landscape and Visual Impact Assessment 3rd Edition our assessment of landscape and visual effects was submitted in support of the appeal.

S174_PL04 Designations LR crop

The inspector took account of our conclusions and concluded that the proposal would not significantly detract from the green gap between Cowes and Gurnard and would not lead to the assumption that they were one village. The appeal was upheld and planning approval granted.

We are very pleased with this result and look forward to developing the next stage of the project alongside other ventures on the Isle of Wight.