PAPER E

REPORT TO DEVELOPMENT CONTROL COMMITTEE – 14 MARCH 2006

Design advice in respect of Ventnor Esplanade

Officer: Janet Dore, Conservation & Design Team Leader Tel: (01983) 823552

Summary

The attached document (Appendix 1) draws together existing published advice on design matters which apply in the context of Ventnor Esplanade. It is put forward for the assistance of Members, Officers and developers when dealing with schemes in this area. Its status in terms of weight is dealt with in the body of this paper.

Background

The review of the Ventnor conservation area has been completed and the proposal, at time of writing, is to extend that designation to include the Esplanade.

There have been a number of proposals for redevelopment of sites on Ventnor Esplanade and for the most part these have failed to respect the established or historic character of the area. As pressure for development and redevelopment continues it seems appropriate to consider the context in which those pressures exist and to try to provide a source of consistent advice for the area.

Various options for advice were considered, and given the current inability to fully adopt SPDs ahead of and not within the work programme of the Island Plan, and the requirements for sustainability audits within that process related to the available resources, a new piece of SPD/G was not possible. It was decided that sufficient information exists with adequate weight of its own but that the information is, perhaps, not easily brought to hand. Thus the document appended to this paper has been prepared. It has been to limited consultation, but as its contents are collected from documents already in the public realm a full consultation would have been irrelevant. No objections have been received from those interested parties who were consulted.

Options

1. To note the collected design advice for Ventnor Esplanade as a tool for those dealing with proposals in that area.

2. To reject the advice.

Conclusion

The document acknowledges the sources used, and those sources are all recognised and referred to by the Planning Inspectorate, so if followed this collected advice should have the weight of each of its source documents. Thus it will assist with continuity for all concerned in assessing design issues relating to sites and proposals in the area.

Recommendation

That Members note the collected design advice for Ventnor Esplanade as a tool for those dealing with proposals in that area.