Help Save The Donkey Field At Seaview
APRIL 2023 – SUREJUST LTD BUYS THE DONKEY FIELD FROM ETON FOR £125,000
On 2 November 2022 Surejust Limited purchased the Donkey Field from Eton College for £125,000. However Eton retain the benefit of an Ovrage Agreement dated 2 November 2022 and there is a restriction on the title in the following terms “No disposition of the registered estate by the proprietor of the registered estate , or by the proprietor of any registered charge, not being a charge registered before the entry of this restriction, is to be registered without a written consent signed by Eton College of The Bursary, Eton College, Windsor, SL4 6DJ or their conveyancer.” A copy of the land registry certificate, plan and transfer is here.
Surejust Limited also own 51 Solent View Road and made a pre-planning application in respect of access to the Donkey Field through 51 Solent View Road in September 2019, details of which can be seen here.
6 DECEMBER 2021 – THE PLANNING APPLICATION BY ETON ON THE DONKEY FIELD WAS WITHDRAWN
4 NOVEMBER 2021 – PLANNING PERMISSION ON THE FARMERS FIELD HAS BEEN REFUSED
Click the headline above to see a copies of the reasons for refusal
A PLANNING APPLICATION HAS BEEN LODGED IN RESPECT OF THE FARMERS FIELD (REF 21/00779/FUL)
TIME IS SHORT AS OBJECTIONS HAVE TO BE LODGED BEFORE 25 JUNE 2021
PLEASE CLICK ON THIS LINK TO SEE OUR THOUGHTS AS TO HOW YOU MAY MOST EFFECTIVELY MAKE YOUR COMMENTS
Advice as to how to object to the application
For further details and updates please also visit the Council’s web site at https://publicaccess.iow.gov.uk/online-applications/applicationDetails.do?activeTab=summary&keyVal=QRFSPIIQG2H00
This website is dedicated to the preservation of the Donkey Field and adjacent field from development. It has been set up by concerned residents of Nettlestone and Seaview and others who wish to preserve the green fields that separate their villages and which provide the two communities and their visitors with iconic views to Seagrove Bay and St Helen’s Fort, a green corridor for wildlife, flowers and grasses and the distinctive character of the seaside.
We currently have more than 160 registered Supporters and you can see the membership of the savethedonkeyfield.co.uk Committee and the Constitution here.
Our Supporters have asked how they can help save the Donkey Field in a more tangible way including donating monies. Over £7,500 has been spent since 2008 when this campaign actually began, 2/3rd of which has been incurred since 2020, and costs are ongoing largely on legal and practical access issues. Access will, we believe and our research supports this, be the biggest on-the-ground issue, in pure planning terms, that a developer needs to overcome and we have constructed, and continue to marshal, powerful arguments, including taking Counsel’s opinion, as to why access cannot be satisfactorily resolved from the developers standpoint especially if the yield envisaged by the IoW Council of 25 houses across both site is to be met. This is an ongoing project and incurs ongoing cost currently being incurred by the Committee and any support you can give would therefore be welcome. We now have a donation facility using PayPal, Debit or Credit card which can be accessed here.
The Donkey field is under threat. A planning application for up to 25 houses across both sites is to be made.
“ ….. a planning application which the College hopes to submit in the coming months…” Eton College 25 September 2020
In anticipation of that application, the landscape is already being irremediably altered: Eton College has felled a beautiful, healthy, hundred year-old oak tree that has stood for generations. You can now see the ‘Formal Warning’ letter sent by the Forestry Commission to Eton College after the felling of the Oak. New housing is of course required to meet the island’s needs but those needs can be met from brown-field sites.
SAVE THE DONKEY FIELD
There have been seven pre-planning applications on the fields since 2015. Details have been obtained from the IoW Council by way of Freedom of Information requests. They can be seen in detail, with plans, here and an example from 2019 is set out below.
Our MP, Bob Seely opposes development. He has written a stark letter to Eton College to that effect and has strongly rebuked them for the destruction of the oak tree. As stated above you can now see the ‘Formal Warning’ letter sent by the Forestry Commission to Eton College after the felling of the Oak. To see extracts from Bob’s address to the House of Commons on his strategy for Island housing click here.
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