The Department for Transport has agreed to look at the pricing, timetables and reliability of Isle of Wight ferries following an important roundtable meeting in Cowes yesterday (Wednesday).
Maritime Minister Mike Kane MP joined local MPs Joe Robertson and Richard Quigley, ferry operators and other stakeholders for a top-level meeting to discuss the ongoing issues affecting cross-Solent travel.
The meeting comes amid mounting public pressure over high fares and service issues, with residents demanding more affordable and dependable transport links between the Isle of Wight and the mainland. There have even been calls for nationalisation.
Before the roundtable discussion could get underway, there was some level of embarrassment when protesters – dressed as pirates – rallied outside Island Sailing Club to make clear the disgruntlement of Islanders when it comes to cross-Solent travel, as first reported by Island Echo.
According to Isle of Wight East MP Joe Robertson, the meeting concluded with an understanding that the Government is going to stay involved, with officials set to look at pricing, timetables and reliability – 3 things that are said to hamper Island life.
Mr Robertson has said:
“I remain of the firm view that the ferry companies alone cannot be relied upon to make the scale of changes needed – they’ve had 20 years.
Article continues below this advertisement “The unregulated private equity model is broken and that’s why we need Government involvement with cross-party working locally.
“I don’t trust the ferry companies to make the change we need because they owe their responsibilities to one group of people and one group only, their shareholders.”
Mike Kane MP, Minister for Aviation, Maritime and Security, certainly would have gone back to London last night with a lasting impression after he was accosted in the street by campaigner Bronwyn Hamilton-Brown, who heads up the Wightlink User Group.
“Agreed to look at” is the key phrase here, in other words nothing is going to change. Fran “corruption” Collins and Katy “liar” Taylor and the other pirates from Hovertravel will not change anything, they don’t have to, they are private companies. If pushed too hard they will say “We are filing for bankruptcy” and then take what money they can and stuff the island and it’s residents, leaving the government to wobble around not knowing what the hell to do, and we all know Rachel “thieves” Reeves won’t put any money up for nationlisation as there will be even more black holes appearing in the finances.
I will look at the Financial times later
Lol
You are spot on, it doesn’t mean a thing
nothing will get done about it, all talk no action.
They will talk the talk, but not walk the walk.
If the government is involved then the fares will be taxed, prices will depend on what fuel is used……
Wightlink use their Hybrid ferry so fares on that one
should be cheaper.
That’s a very curious thing for JR to say. Kemi won’t be too pleased. Someone somewhere might point out that the reason they’ve had years to sort this out is that for 14 of them it wasn’t in the government’s best interest, given their wedded bliss to shareholders across all aspects of industry and private equity relationships. But yes, he’s right, THIS government will stay involved. Tick tock.
I have often thought that, with his personal (and open political) views on things related to the ferries and the Isle of Wight in general,.. that Jo Robertson stood for the wrong party….
he does seem very against the traditional CONservative policy of facilitating Rich People to make as much money as possible from everyone else at every opertunity….
Or maybe he’s just trying to be seen as being a peoples person? Look a little deeper into his Tory credentials…conservatism runs hot through every vein.
Sadiq Khan had a tunnel 1.4km in length built
in 5 years, so why can’t a similar tunnel be built
from Colwell to the mainland.
Similar distance.
I don’t think the people living in the New Forest would want a tunnel, and I would imagine it’s the same for most of the mainland coast.
It’s got to be right for both sides of the Solent.
You have a valid point, but too be honest
do people get a choice.
Some people did not want HS2 to go ahead
but it still got started.
Something must be done about the Ferries.
I would rather pay a cheap fare and travel across
on a drive on barge affair. I am not bothered about
ferry companies paying millions of pounds for
Hybrid ferries and then have to pay ridiculous fares to
pay for the Ferries.
it’s got something to do with the potential number of users….
(and therefore the potential for return on investment)
The ROI for a cross solent tunnel would be far too small to get any funding.
Unfortunately, in our post-thatcherite economy, nothing in the way of infrastructure gets done unless some rich (CONservative supporting) investors are set to make a massive profit from it…(at the expense of the users of the infrastructure, and / or the tax payer)
Its starting to look a lot like a normal politicians response again. Make the right noises, promise to look into the problem but ultimately do nothing. They know that if they procrastinate like this long enough it will be election time again, at which point it will be some other politicians problem. Who loses, well we do of course, the long suffering residents of the Isle of Wight!
Also worth noting that it’s also been discussed in the Commons as another Labour MP took the opportunity to ask a question in Quigley’s absence (who obviously couldn’t be in two places at one time) to Heidi Alexander (Transport Minister) who said that she looked forward to hearing the outcome of today’s meeting on the island as Richard had raised the issue with her several times in recent months.
Continually raising the subject of a tunnel is a red herring. It is not happening. Government can’t afford it and there is insufficient profit in it for private investors to do so. So focus on how to improve the ferry service. Clearly, they cannot be trusted to self regulate which leaves either nationalisation, for which there are already too many demands on the money required, or regulation which is the obvious answer. It is not rcket science.