After a mysterious visit to see the last floating bridge, Isle of Wight councillors have answered questions as to why they were there.
Spotted yesterday (Thursday) onboard the vessel in Gosport, Councillor Dave Stewart, leader of the Isle of Wight Council, said it was only a fact-finding mission to see what condition the boat was in.
Although the Isle of Wight Council no longer owns the Floating Bridge 5, having sold it on its retirement from service in 2017 — so why were they there?
Cllr Stewart said:
“A lot of people talk about bringing Floating Bridge 5 back, so we said to ourselves sometimes you need to inform yourself on what the state was.
“Now, I can say I have physically seen it and I would not bring it back. To be honest, I would call what I saw a rusty wreck.”
One of the other councillors on the visit Cllr Ian Ward, the council’s boss for infrastructure and transport, however, muddied the water by saying the old vessel could possibly come back into service but it would cost an ‘awful lot of money to do so’. He said:
“We have heard so many stories that the engines were ripped out and there were holes so we went across to see what the truth was.
Article continues below this advertisement “It probably could go back into service but it would cost an awful lot of money to bring it back to the useable standard.”
Responding to those comments, Cllr Stewart said Cllr Ward had an engineering background, where he didn’t, but to bring it up to modern standards and make it safe again for people to travel on would be too much.
Cllr Stewart said:
“We are looking at options for the future to see how we support the current Floating Bridge. I am pleased to say it has been back for over a week now, carrying more than 3,000 passengers.”
Cllr Stewart said he was not saying the £3.2 million Floating Bridge 6 ‘won’t have problems’ but he hoped the service would be fine and continue to run as other options are explored.
One of the preferred options now going forward is to install side thrusters on but if it comes with a hefty price tag, potentially ‘hundreds of thousands of pounds’, Cllr Stewart said they will have to question whether they can afford to do that at the moment. He would like to see the issue resolved as the passenger launch service wasn’t that disability-friendly.
The visit to the old Floating Bridge 5 came a day after work was spotted being done to the boat by a Gosport resident who said he heard the engines running and what could have been sand-blasting, sparking rumours the vessel could come back.
Responding to questions about the work, an Isle of Wight Council spokesperson said:
“We no longer have any involvement with it, nor are we involved in, or have any knowledge of any works on the vessel.”
Experts suggested by opposition councillors to help solve problems on Floating Bridge 6 joined them on the boat to have a look.
Cllr Karl Love, East Cowes ward representative, was also pictured on the visit and said:
“I have a duty to explore and to do the very best I can for my residents.
“It was logical to organise a site visit to assess its condition and it was good to see the old Floating Bridge 5 again for myself, with others and the experts, rather than hearing different stories of its condition from others.
“This enabled us to have engaging discussions.”
Cllr Lora Peacey-Wilcox, the representative for Cowes Medina, said she was asked to attend the visit by Cllr Love as the representative for the other side of the Medina and echoed his comments.
I hate to say it Councillor Stewart, but if you hadn’t had a ‘wash and brush-up’ for over 3-years, I imagine you too would look a bit of a wreck!
Our council is wrecked!
Good to see they were all masked up and socially distanced, haven’t they heard there’s a pandemic going on. Fools the lot of them and no doubt we will have to pay for the trip.
Before side thrusters are installed at a great expense. We would like to see court proceedings started against the naval architect/designer/spec writer.
Failing that. Councillor Stewart, Ward or the civil servants responsible for this mess need to be held to account and resign.
that would be a certain J Bacon then?
currently touting his latest reincarnated group for election.
Cllr Dave stewart couldn’t tell his ar*e from his elbow – for him to condemn no5 as a “rusty wreck” is a meaningless statement from a meaningless man, no doubt designed to deter any such course of action even if it were feasible.
I bet it wouldn’t of cost £7.5m to bring floating bridge 5 back to an acceptable, reliable, working standard again! This lot of no nothings are really taking the p%@s out of us now.
A full and total waste of OUR council tax, just to give them a day out on full expenses to do nothing, but eat a lovely lunch and all paid for by us.
Vote them OUT next chance
If anyone wants to be petty. I present to you our iow council leaders showing NO MASKS, NO SOCIAL DISTANCING and am sure one of the pictures there is a group of 7 is there one rule for them and one for us and these are our leaders they should practice what they preach absolute fools the lot of them. Its about time this incompetent lot were oiked out. But wait it will never happen to many grey votes on the island and bent tactics with thier wealthy pals. Oh and old floating bridge 5 looks and would work better than that heap they have now.
Not a matter of voting them out, it’s a matter of choosing another lot to vote in, and none of them fill me with any confidence at all..
I’m a ‘grey vote’ and won’t be voting them in next time.Join me!
Sometimes,. The saying “if it a’int broke don’t mend it” needs to be listened to. How much to modify the new one against a refurbished old one? No 7 is the Medina bridge.
Probably cost a lot less then keeping the present piece of garbage in service and be a lot more reliable
Some sandpaper and a coat of paint will soon get rid of the rust.
After spending more than £7 million of Tax payers money on a new Floaty the councillors have gone back to the Scrap Metal Merchants with ” Cap in Hand ” asking for the old one back again Unbelievable
So, in actual fact, regardless of the misleading and inflammatory headline, am I correct in thinking that this was actually a trip to establish if anything could be salvaged or used for spares for the Floating Bridge No 6? It’s not very clear about the intension of the visit or, if it was sold, who the present owners are and if they’re even willing to sell it, or parts, back to us. So, how much did this fact finding mission cost us, what was the end purpose and was it money well spent?
Why not mix and match old parts and new parts between the two to make a vessel that will work how the current one was intended too
This council are still showing us what a total bunch of useless no good for anything heap of …… fill the gap in with your own words.
Never have so few spent so much on total useless things.
Needs to be a public inquiry, someone has done very nicely out of this. Government need to step in and put a proper bridge in like they have at yarmouth and be done with it. Would cost more but be paid by the government.
They really have no shame do they!!! The ‘rusty wreck’ would probably do a better job than the current ‘money pit’. They have wasted MILLIONS of our council tax money. We all should demand a cut in council tax next year to compensated for the money these incompetent fools have blatantly wasted. OMG, would they really have bought back No 5?????? Probably, what bare faced cheek. They really do have no shame. Vote these imbeciles OUT next year. Don’t leave it to others, go and vote everyone
What another total waste of money by this corrupt council,but on the plus side I hope they had a nice day out and a super free lunch on the tax payer
It would have been 6 million cheaper to refurbish this one
What a shame it’d be if they went overboard in shark-infested waters. Well, maybe not THAT much of a shame…
Did the councillors go on board the old working floating bridge ?
Or did they just have a look from a distance ?
Did they just listen to the advice of some old sea dog ?
Or did they consider it could just be surface rust
Scrape her bottom, give her a good paint job and get her back in service.
Then have the decency to resign, quoting your incompetence as the reason.
Just a thought.
Nice day trip though, I hope they shared the cost between them ??
Bring it back, they are not even social distancing on the boat !
A load of clowns!
Nice to see them Laughing, Laughing at the people who pay their wages!
Do they realise that they are paid by us to represent us and govern the Island for us whilst we are at work?
I used to stand up for Mr Ward,now believe he is unhinged!
Future proofing st Mary’s junction!
Never used to take me 45mins to leave B&Q car park.if I was B&Q I’d want a reduction in my Business Rates!
Would it not be cheaper to fix the old one as it works, the money wasted on the white Elephant, would been better spent on No5 bring it back and stop wasting our money.
Scrap No 6 use the money to refurbish No5