Plan for over 400 homes on farmland given consent

Developers want to build the 473 homes at Westridge Farm

Revised plans to build hundreds of homes on a former dairy farm - previously quashed after a legal battle - have been accepted by Isle of Wight Council.

Developer Captiva Homes wants to build the 473 homes along with a doctors' surgery, offices and a cafe at Westridge Farm in Ryde.

The original planning permission, granted in August 2023, was quashed by the Court of Appeal in April 2025 after a legal challenge by residents' group Greenfields. The council was found to have failed to publish developer contribution details.

Isle of Wight Council's planning committee approved conditional permission for the West Acre Park on Tuesday. Seven councillors voted in favour and four against.

The council's planning decision was found to have been made unlawfully because before granting planning permission it failed to publish a key draft legal agreement - known as a section 106.

Section 106 agreements are negotiated between developers and councils, with money from developers used to fund parks, schools and other services.

The proposed 473 new homes are a mixture of single and two-storey buildings with 35% set to be designated as affordable housing.

After being quashed, the planning application was reclassified as "under consideration" on the planning portal - a new application was not needed.

A revised draft section 106 agreement is expected to be published by the council, which residents will have the opportunity to comment on.

Greenfields (IOW) Ltd said it still objected to the application with the same terms and references as they did before.

Westridge Farm was run by members of the Holliday family for 55 years until 2022 when the tenant farmers said they had "no fight left" and would leave.