wightdogs.com ISLE of WIGHT DOGS and OWNERS

On the 24th November the webmaster wrote to the council regarding the fence in the photos.

Dear Sir,

I am writing to bring to your attention the fence in the attached jpegs which has been erected alongside the footpath running between Ampthill road Ryde, and Appley park. This fence has recently been constructed inside the existing chain-link fence which has been in place for many years along the boundary of St Cecilias abbey.

It runs alongside a highway, it exceeds two metres in hight and is out of keeping with the area, also it is making this highway oppressive and closed in for both women and vulnerable persons to use.

Would you please inform me whether this fence required planning permission and whether this has been granted

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Yours Sincerely

As this email went unacknowledged and was totally ignored after 20 working days he requested a review of the councils decision to not supply the information he had requested.

He has now finally  received a reply, of sorts, from the council stating that they have inspected the fence in question and that no action will be taken as "it has been decided that it would not be expedient to pursue enforcement action in line with National Policy Guidance PPG18"

(Planning Policy Guidance: Enforcing Planning Control PPG18 can be found here)

To date we have not been informed whether the fence required planning permission and if so whether this was applied for and whether it was granted, consequently we have now requested this information for the third time along with details of requesting a review/appeal of their decision as, in addition, we have not been informed of this either.

We can see no benefit in this fence being erected as there is already a chain link fence barring access. This footpath is unlit it has an unfenced wooded area running adjacent to it, on the opposite side to the fence, which leaves the area off putting to the many female users and their young children who frequent the footpath to access the nearby school, and now added to this they are further discouraged by having a fence exceeding two metre high closing in the established open character of this boundary with the Saint Cecilias Abbey, which I would imagine must also be a listed building.

Quite why the Abbey consider this fence necessary is a mystery but taking into consideration the copius use of barbed wire they employ to keep people out, not to mention the broken glass on top of their walls, I am left questioning their attitude towards ordinary people, after all are we not all their gods creations? And given the tarnished reputation of the Roman Catholic church I would have thought that openness and good will would have been the new order, but then again....

Sunday 24th January...

Further photos of the broken glass which is deemed necessary (and lawful?) by the Abbey and more recently erected fencing exceeding 2 metres in height which is bordering the approach road to Appley car park.

These images have also been forwarded to the council along with a request as to whether St Cecilias Abbey and its grounds are of listed status and/or a conservation area. And once again whether this fence required planning permission and if so whether this was applied for and whether it was granted.