Town Councillors in Sandown have celebrated the development of a longer-term beach safety strategy for The Bay area.
Working alongside Todd Miller, national trainer and manager of the local service, several improvements have been made in recent years including the provision of safety buoys in The Bay, which has helped address the jet-ski concerns of residents.
Other improvements include the provision of a new lifeguard station; securing grants for the provision of accessible beach wheelchairs; partnership work with Sandown & Shanklin Independent Lifeboat and the provision of walkie-talkies for local concessionaires.
The investment in toilets at Eastern Gardens, first aid and defibrillator provision and sea safe sessions for local young people have also been hailed.
The Town Council recently approved a budget that continues this long-term provision for beach safety, alongside matched funding to support grant applications, as well as other beach side initiatives which will shortly be announced – once plans are finalised.
Mayor Paddy Lightfoot has said:
“This partnership approach has secured grants, enabled capacity building, increased accessibility, help secure the Island’s only blue flag, and more importantly provided a high quality beach safety service for the benefit of residents and visitors”.
Deputy Mayor Alex Lightfoot adds:
“The Town Council value the work of Todd and his team of lifeguards, with the benefit of longer term certainty we can continue to develop the beach safety service, apply for additional funding for specific projects, and jointly work to increase accessibility”.
Todd Miller concludes:
“Working with Sandown has enabled the service to grow, providing more opportunities for younger people, as well as skilling up local school children and trainee lifeguards to build long-term capacity and provision”.
Is this where all our ‘increased’ Council Tax contributions are being spent?