From Nigel Golding, Ryde:

THE rush on the part of the planners to cover our Island with houses seems to be based partly on projections pulled magically out of some second-rate magician’s hat and partly on a passion for assuaging the desires of any carpet-bagging developers.

Fortunately, we have an Office for National Statistics (ONS), whose September report gives detailed projections of household growth by local authority area which undermine the basis for much of the current development on the Island.

Between 2016 and 2041, they estimate a decline in households under the age of 55 from 28,000 to 23,000 and a rise from 37,000 to 48,000 in the number of households over the age of 54, with a fall in the size of the average household from 2.16 to 2.0 people.

If the statisticians at the ONS are correct, we should be building mainly smaller units suitable for smaller households, both cheaper to live in and easier to manage.

The migration of older households into the smaller units should free up sufficient family-sized homes to meet the reduced demand anticipated.

Smaller units on smaller plots would also reduce the spread of urban areas such as Ryde into the irreplaceable countryside.

The ONS analysis can be found at https://www.ons.gov.uk.