The owner of a piece of land earmarked for housing in the rural village of Wellow will stump up £80,000 towards affordable housing on the Island so it is easier for the brownfield land to be developed.

Since gaining planning permission to build 16 homes on Lee Farm just over 4 months ago, landowner Steve Cowley has tried to sell the site to a developer who will build the housing which was recently approved.

However, having spoken with prospective Island developers, it became evident there were issues preventing the sale of the site on the Wellow Main Road.

Speaking at the Council’s planning committee meeting on Tuesday, officers said due to increasing costs of material, labour and fuel, as well as the potential financial risks associated with brownfield land, Mr Cowley was having difficulty selling the site.

Developers, they said, were saying it was unviable to build what had been approved while still making a profit.

To try to alleviate some of the pressures holding back potential developers, Mr Cowley proposed to pay the financial contribution towards affordable housing at the start of building works instead of the developers doing so at the end of the scheme. The move would see Mr Cowley pay £80,000 towards affordable housing elsewhere on the Island, instead of the previous potential of £27,120 by developers.

However, members of the planning committee were concerned by accepting the £80,000 they may be missing out on more money further down the line. Officers said that would be unlikely as the rising costs risks undermining the development.

Councillor Matt Price said the council could be throwing away £50,000 if it did not approve the change but said the money should be provided before work on the site starts. Cllr Price proposed the council asked Mr Cowley to pay the money 3 months after the sale of the site is completed or whenever the development starts, whichever is sooner. He also requested the legal agreement be signed within 6 months of the meeting or the matter would come back before the planning committee.

Councillor Chris Jarman asked that there be a cut-off date for the contribution to be paid.

Officers agreed the contribution could be index-linked which would see the amount to pay adjusted in line with the retail price index.

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For sale. IW Council. Open to offers.

Landowner has now got the council ‘decision making machine’ involved, bad move.

Difficult to sell as profit would not reach 500%… or more ! Sadly everyone just wants to earn higher profits, which in turn puts prices up for the buyers. Should make a law stating maximum amount of profit margin.. If earn more than said amount, lower the price of the goods, same with all companies, look how they brag of their multi billions of profit, they could easily lower consumers price and still earn a profit. But GREED takes over… Selfishness..

most publicly stated brown envelope incentive I have ever seen

he knows this development is a non starter – inflation, costs, reduction in ability of people to buy houses as recession bites – more sellers as people cant afford mortgages – it is all coming down the pipe

£80k towards affordable housing elsewhere? Joke! Why not contribute the money towards affordable housing on his own development? Or doesn’t Wellow need any rural “affordable” housing housing? Oh hang on – it’s actually about a cycle track bung to the Council to maximise his own profiteering. Who says the Planners can’t be bought? Discuss.

I don’t blame him, if you had the choice would you want affordable/social housing scumbags there? Keep them in ryde!!

Well Bob, you might not be that far off the mark with that. So if I understand this correctly, he coughs £80k to the Council so the Developer doesn’t have to pay £27k at the end of the project. As a result of this gesture of human kindness Developers will be beating down his door to buy the land off him. OR could it be that he wants a stack load of dosh for the sale of the land. £80k seems like a bit of a red herring and a token amount in the grand scheme of this fine example of capitalist opportunism. He’ll be running for Mayor next!

Where the genuine Island families in need are concerned, there’s no such thing as affordable housing. This article just high lights the complete shambolic housing mess, and a council governed by the size of the fat brown envelope. Lee Farm should continue it’s proper purpose for what it was intended, producing food!

‘Producing food’ not very profitable as it’s cheaper to buy from the Eu.

Working in excess of 16 hours a day to keep a farm running! Like to see you try

The unacceptable face of capitalism….

Just how much does one of these mythical affordable houses actually cost?

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