An Alliance group spokesperson claims controversial Isle of Wight school closure plans are at the heart of the latest motion of no confidence levelled against the Isle of Wight Council’s leader.
However, Conservative Group leader, Councillor Suzie Ellis, has not elaborated on the reason for today’s (Tuesday’s) announcement, saying she did not want to go into specifics, subsequently adding it was 1 of a number of considerations.
The motion has the support of 20 Isle of Wight councillors, representing more than half of those currently sitting at County Hall in Newport.
In today’s statement, Cllr Ellis, who has been in charge of the Tories since mid-July, said the council needs to “have a leadership which is prepared to make the right — and sometimes difficult — decisions in a timely manner.”
The statement does not explain why the move is being taken, just weeks after Cllr Ellis withdrew her support for a similar motion.
In July, she said she would not be backing a plan led by the Empowering Islanders group of councillors, saying it did not reflect the approach she would be taking.
A spokesperson for the leading Alliance group of councillors claimed the Conservatives want to pursue school closures, suggesting 9 could shut.
The spokesperson said the Alliance group had opted for a more collaborative approach, saying:
“We first need to deal with the position created by Hampshire County Council and use that opportunity to have a public debate as to how we best structure Island education, and in particular how we support our small and rural schools, where possible.”
In July, Hampshire County Council said it would be terminating its children’s services, education and skills partnership with the Isle of Wight Council.
There is an ongoing issue with surplus places in primary schools – in other words too few children to fill the available places across the Island. A group of school leaders previously said 39 ‘increasingly inefficient’ primaries could be reduced to around 30 more efficient ones, to deal with the impact of surplus places on teacher recruitment, school finances and the quality of education.
In June 2022, Isle of Wight headteachers and governors wrote to the council to save pupils from what they called a mediocre education long into the future.
Earlier this month, Alliance and Isle of Wight Council leader, Cllr Lora Peacey-Wilcox, apologised for the way some announcements relating to education had been made.
She took over as as education lead, removing Cllr Debbie Andre as the cabinet member in charge. Instead, Cllr Andre will retain responsibility for children’s services and lifelong skills, and will also take on the lead role for issues relating to poverty.
A vote over leadership at County Hall will be held on 20th September, unless something changes in the meantime. More details are expected after an agenda paper is published early next month.
If the motion announced today is successful, Cllr Ellis will take on the role of council leader.
Cllr Ellis says her motion is not a reflection of Cllr Peacey-Wilcox as an individual, adding she feels the leader has worked very hard and has discharged her duties with the best interests of the Island in mind.
We need a total council purge, not just some dodgy reshuffle. They will all be sucking up to each other to keep a job in this corrupt council. Peachy, Ellis and Jordan to name a few are some of the must insensitive and hard line “people”, I use the term loosely, I have ever had the misfortune to read about. Get A.I. in charge, that would sort it all out, let’s face it, it couldn’t be worse could it?
No! We need Tories! Bring back Liz and Boris, we need a strong and stable government!
No place in Politics for a Liar like Johnson.
He should be a magician, he lies without moving his
Lips.
Amateurs.. total embarrassment..
More jostling for power. It’ll only end badly for us!
Their strategy for getting things done is to clog up the machine with votes and shullbit.
Kids in the playground politics. Grow up the lot of you and do as Bob tells you to do!
No matter what happens I bet we will be charged more and more and more
“The statement does not explain why the move is being taken, just weeks after Cllr Ellis withdrew her support for a similar motion.”
No but does tell you the reason. Likely she now has more support from other councillors and is confident she will get in.
Finally, they agree with the island! A vote of no confidence. However, they are not going far enough! They should add their names to list. Most agree, we have no faith in any of them!
I have faith. I have faith in them being corrupt and going to great lengths to destroy the island. They want us to be one big city. They will not rest until the beaches are toilets, the waters surrounding us are sewage and the only beautiful greenery, is the doors on the second homes and their gardens.
I have had no confidence in them all for many years now.
I do wonder, are they corrupt before standing? Or are they corrupted when they start working with the dirty “beep beep beep” that are already there?
Doesn’t need a councillor, to see this lot are hopeless.
Dubious investments on mainland property. Millions spent caring for 6 people in one month and taxis for kids. Closing schools, then changing the decision, two years running.
No news on the floating bridge, after the compensation deal!, that’s so bad its a secret.
Every year this council puts up the council tax, by unreasonable amounts, to cover there failings.
It was the tories who brought land on the mainland, not the alliance. The tories shouldn’t bully their way in, it should be an election