The final piece has slotted into place for the regeneration bid in The Bay area as the last council to sign up, Lake Parish Council, has committed to working together.
The parish council will fund a place plan in conjunction with Sandown and Shanklin Town Councils and the Isle of Wight Council.
A place plan, as explained by the Isle of Wight Council’s regeneration director Chris Ashman, at Thursday’s Lake Parish Council meeting, focuses on people and not just places and will understand what is important to each community.
Mr Ashman said the local authority had hoped to be further along with the ‘Bay Place Plan’ but due to the pandemic, progress had been halted.
The plan for the next 10 years, Mr Ashman said, will provide the councils with a sense of priority for change in the area and support for transformation funding opportunities.
A funding question mark was raised, however, due to the size of Lake compared to the 2 towns. The 4 councils are expected to split the £20,000 bill equally and pay £5,000 each. As Lake is smaller than Sandown and Shanklin some councillors felt they should pay less towards the consultancy fees.
Both town councils have acknowledged the actual cost of the plan could be more but Sandown has budgeted £5,000 with the idea it could be around £7,500, with Shanklin committing to setting aside £10,000 should it be needed.
Councillor John Marshall said he didn’t think it was right to spend £5,000 with money already so tight, as the parish council had already bought a set of toilets and was thinking of getting another.
Councillor Jenny Hicks said it was not fair to Lake residents to pay the same as the towns and the parish council should pay 10% less.
Councillor Paul Brading, chair of the council, however, said the £5,000 would mean an equal voting position and equal seat with no lesser voice. He said £5,000 would be the most the council should give.
Councillors agreed to support the plans with 7 votes to 1 – Cllr Marshall against.
