After suggestions Dinosaur Isle could leave Sandown, it has now been confirmed it will stay put and talks with the Natural History Museum and the Hampshire Cultural Trust continue.
The Isle of Wight Council is looking to secure the future of the tourist attraction and we now know that 1 partner will manage its fossil collection while a commercial partner will run the museum itself with a joint working agreement is being drawn up.
Councillor Jonathan Bacon, Isle of Wight Council’s cabinet member for the environment and heritage, told a meeting the museum’s future is part of the wider regeneration bid for the area which could see new attractions for Culver Parade. Cllr Bacon said that Dinosaur Isle would be the key to its success.
The Isle of Wight Council lost an estimated £417,700 on Dinosaur Isle between 2017 and 2023 although it is hoped it will break even in 2023-2024. However, the building needs repairs and will cost nearly £1million to fix.
The Council has applied for Government funding and it will find out whether it has been successful in December.
Excellent. Well done Bacon…
With some proper management this could be an amazing attraction. Utter shambles at the moment.
If they re-opened the canoe lake, perhaps that would encourage more holiday makers to go along that end of Sandown sea front and perhaps visit dinosaur isle whilst they were there.
Sadly too much of sandown has been ‘socially engineered’ and ‘regenerated’ already by the public sector non-jobbers in county hall which is why it is in such a disgusting parlous state – if we could roll back 40 years of bureaucratic oversight and policymaking then it might stand a chance, but the public sector interference in it (both local and national) has wrecked the town, which considering it has one of the nicest beaches anywhere on the south coast, really takes some doing