Major redevelopment plans to restore a dilapidated pier and to build houses on a popular Isle of Wight beach have been refused.
The Isle of Wight Council has turned down property design company Miles Blamire’s proposals to restore the pier at Fort Victoria and establish an oyster nursery and shellfish processing building, with a food serving hatch.
The authority also refused permission for five four-bed houses on the foreshore, which would have been elevated over the shingle.
Isle of Wight Council planning officers called the development an ‘intrusion’ into an open space and said it would create urban sprawl.
Publishing its decision, the authority said it would fail to preserve the existing character of the area and would constitute an “undesirable form of development”.
It said the Grade II listed Fort Victoria should remain the most prominent building on its shoreline and what was proposed would dominate the view from the seaward side.
The land is open, tranquil and largely undeveloped, the council said, which would change with the development, giving the perception the beach was off-limits due to private housing.
The authority said rather than improving access to the coast, the development would discourage the use of the section of the beach.
The council also argued the development would be in an unsustainable location, unconnected to transport options and away from services and facilities.
The development was also deemed unacceptable in flood risk terms and the Isle of Wight Council said there are alternative and preferable locations for housing.
Plans were first submitted in April 2022 and were scaled back in August 2023. Both sets of plans received more than 150 letters of objection from residents.
If the developer wishes to, it can appeal the council’s decision to the Planning Inspectorate.
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