FLOATING BRIDGE’S DAYS ARE NUMBERED – TROUBLED VESSEL WILL BE REPLACED

The decision has been made to replace the troubled Cowes Floating Bridge, just 7 years after entering service. Although purchased for £3.5million back in 2017, it is thought that Floating Bridge 6 has cost millions more over the past 7 years. An exact figure is not known. Now, after costing the taxpayer huge amounts of money, the Isle of Wight Council has tonight (Thursday) agreed to replace the vessel, but it could take another 3 years before Floating Bridge 7 is up and running on the River Medina. Floating Bridge 5 ran across the River Medina for some 40 years and Floating Bridge 6 was expected to last 25 years – but will be lucky to last 10.

Speaking at tonight’s cabinet meeting, Councillor Phil Jordan, leader of the local authority, said he knew it was a decision people had been waiting for, and so had he – despite sitting on the same Council that commissioned the vessel almost a decade ago. Cllr Jordan said:

“It is the start of a process we will have to go through but we have found a staged process which will enable us to bring the vessel forward more efficiently and quickly with a number of options coming forward. “This Island needs to know we are replacing the Floating Bridge.”

The executive body agreed previous information, gathered by the council in multiple reports and reviews over the years should be used to inform the next stages of replacing the vessel. The council would be working with consultants 3S, which recently carried out computer modelling and an analysis of Floating Bridge 6 and determined the vessel would always need a push boat to help it cross the river at strong tides.

The consultants also said any replacement vessel would have to be radically redesigned with a new hull or superstructure to be able to journey across the river successfully. Cllr Jordan said some of the options the authority will look at may not be a ‘financial burden to the council’ and that the decision did not commit the authority to additional investment in a new vessel at this time. He said:

“There are options available which will be researched and brought back to us before we pull the trigger and get a new vessel.”

Councillor Karl Love, the ward representative for East Cowes, clapped when Cllr Jordan read out the recommendations, and said he felt since he had come into office he had dealt with nothing but the Floating Bridge. He said the cabinet’s decision removes the heartache his community has suffered in the last 7 years. Cllr Love said:

“Remember this is not going to be a quick fix, this will be a few more years yet but the end is in sight. Thank you for arriving at the beginning of the end. “I am sure it will come as a great relief to taxpayers. We cannot continue to shed millions and millions of pounds on this when it should have been dealt with earlier.”

The decision overruled officers’ recommendations to create a £250,000 Medina Crossing Strategy, with an extra £100,000 allocated for staffing capacity. Cabinet agreed the recommendations officers had set out would be used as an indicative process.