A structured community workshop will take place on 7th March to help generate practical proposals for the future of Ventnor Winter Gardens.
The Ventnor Winter Gardens Steering Group has confirmed the next stage in the Asset of Community Value (ACV) process, following recent coverage on BBC South and in the local press.
The morning workshop, to be held in Ventnor on Saturday 7th March, aims to bring forward realistic and deliverable ideas for the future use of the historic Ventnor Winter Gardens.
The announcement follows what the Steering Group has described as positive progress, including direct discussions with the building’s owner, Kevin Sussmilch, who is said to be open to hearing constructive, forward-looking proposals arising from the session.
Daniel Ruiz, speaking on behalf of the Steering Group, said:
“This is about solutions, not slogans. We need practical thinking, ideas that could genuinely operate, attract people to Ventnor, and create lasting community value.”
The workshop will bring together a limited number of participants willing to contribute seriously to the process. Attendees will be asked to prepare both a simple and a more ambitious concept for how the building could be used, outlining what the idea is, how it would function, when it might be delivered and who could support it.
The session will be professionally facilitated and will include open brainstorming, combining ideas into phased plans, identifying risks and opportunities, and clarifying practical next steps. The day will operate under clear principles, including positive and constructive discussion, a forward-looking mindset, no revisiting past grievances and a firm focus on what can be done.
Places are limited in order to ensure a productive working environment.
Residents, businesses, cultural organisations and individuals who feel they can contribute constructively are invited to request participation by emailing [email protected]. Applicants are asked to include their name and contact details, a short (maximum 40-word) pen portrait, and confirmation that they are willing to prepare ideas and work within the workshop principles.
Successful applicants will receive further details and preparation notes.
Daniel added:
“Ventnor has creativity, intelligence and energy. This workshop is about channelling that into something credible and achievable.”
If there was ever a press release designed to put off and restrict people with a genuine interest in helping then this it.We have no ideas of our own but our intention is to control ideas that others have if they do not concur with our own vision, we will not invite anyone we do not agree with and all for what, the stepping stones and processes for changing a private building, privately owned who has expressed no wish to turn over that ownership and then turning it onto a community asset are huge and cannot be achieved without massive amounts of tax payer monies which the island does not have.
Wow that’s a lot of buzzword salad.
It would make nice flats.
Your comment is unvaild.