A confidential briefing on the PFI contract failed to go ahead last night (Tuesday) as 6 out of 8 councillors refused to sign a secrecy agreement.
As previously reported by Island Echo, a meeting had been called for members of the Isle of Wight Council’s Scrutiny Committee to meet with representatives from Island Roads and the Council to discuss nitty-gritty details of the highways improvement programme.
On Monday, the meeting was blasted by Councillor Geoff Brodie for being secret with councillors told they must sign a confidentiality agreement to ensure that the information didn’t enter the public domain.
However, 6 out of the 8 councillors due to hear such ‘top-secret’ information refused to sign the effective gagging order, meaning the confidential briefing didn’t go ahead. The councillors were, however, given a general briefing which will also be delivered to 40 other councillors at a later date.
The 2 councillors who agreed to sign the agreement were Cllr Garrett and Cllr Andre.
With the Core Investment Period (CIP) coming to an end in just 2 months’ time, there are still lots of questions to be answered about what the future of the PFI contract looks like. Island Echo reported in May last year that it would appear the Isle of Wight faces another 3+ years of resurfacing, effectively taking the CIP to around 10 years – twice the duration of a standard CIP.
An online map showing the programme of works for the coming years was removed from the Island Roads website last May and has not returned, meaning Islanders are now unable to see when their road and pavements will be resurfaced.
Further efficiency savings are expected to be rolled out from April – which could tie in with discussions around the dimming of street lighting across the Island.
Councillor Andrew Garratt… said: “Confidential briefings .. maintaining the necessary confidentiality to protect … the citizens of the Isle of Wight…”
How can hiding the truth from us protect the citizens of the Isle of Wight?
Do they believe that we are not competent to understand if our money is being correctly spent?
or are they afraid that if the truth gets out we will only too easily understand what a huge scam the whole Island Roads / PFI thing is?
Why do they keep on claiming that the information is ‘commercially sensitive’ when the contract has already been awarded & partly completed? The only reason can be that they’re ripping us off & don’t want us to know (it’s OK for the councillors who have singed a non-disclosure agreement, as they are bound to deceive us as well (and probably in on it as well))
If you contracted a builder to build an extension for you,.. (quoted @ £40K & 6 months work) & three years later he’s only done the footings & says he can’t complete it ‘cos there’s no money left,.. I’m sure you’d be wanting to know exactly what he’s spent the £40K on… and you’d have a right to know.
As council tax payers we would, of course, expect to be kept in the dark about such expenditure!
All we can expect is above inflation increases and extra enforced contributions to the police!
I remember years ago when councillors would go on trips to places such as New Zealand to see how councils dealt with a particular aspect of governance (such as rubbish collection or traffic management) i.e a jolly at our expense
Well stated Tom – I originally lived in Essex and I can remember as a child councillors doing exactly as you describe – my uncle was one of them – it was a travesty
Whose had there snout in the trough