Appeal Filed Over Seaview Boathouse Planners Warned Would Harm 'Ancient Woodland'

An appeal has been filed over refused plans for a boathouse on the edge of an Isle of Wight coastal village after planners said it would harm ‘ancient woodland’.

The council turned down William and Christopher Garnett’s planning application to build a wooden boathouse at Horestone Point, Seaview, in November last year.

The building would sit on an existing concrete base alongside two other boat stores on Priory Beach, a submitted Planning Statement said.

County Hall’s decision report cited a lack of an ‘adequate buffer zone’ between the proposed development and ‘designated ancient woodland to the west and north of the application site’, the proposal being ‘unlikely’ to lead to public benefit and doubts over how it would contribute to biodiversity gain.

In an appeal statement prepared on behalf of the Garnetts, Paul Stack Planning said:

“The appeal can be supported on the grounds that on a detailed assessment of the proposal and accompanying information contained within the appeal documentation, there will be no undue adverse or harmful impacts on the ancient woodland.

“The proposal is able to show a biodiversity net gain of 83.2 per cent, notwithstanding the additional benefits to be accrued from the approved Woodland Management Plan.”