Jonathan Bartley, co-leader of the Green Party, visited the Isle of Wight on Saturday where he addressed a packed meeting at The Riverside Centre in Newport, as well as meeting residents at the now-closed Ryde Arena and discussing plans for an Isle Access facility in Ryde.
Mr Bartley, who is the Green Party spokesperson on Work and Pensions and has a teenage son who needs a wheelchair, met the directors of Isle Access in Ryde. He spoke with Jan Brookes and Karen Turner who told him all about their mission to promote accessibility and inclusion for everyone on the Island. He was very impressed with their plans for a long disused building at the Esplanade rail station which they are leasing from South West Trains.
Jan, Karen and Jonathan discussed the plans to develop a cafeteria, accessible kitchen, meeting room and advice centre to help promote employment, training and work experience opportunities to anyone having difficulty in accessing employment. Isle Access have recently secured funding from the Community Rail Partnership and the Rail Heritage Trust towards essential refurbishments totalling £280,000.
Members of the Ryde Arena Community Action Group, who are working to establish a future for the ice rink on the Isle of Wight, spoke with Mr Bartley and Cllr Michael Lilley outside the rink. As a keen skater himself, Jonathan was concerned to hear of the immense difficulties faced by the rink users in recent weeks. They discussed possible ways forward, and the bigger picture regarding government funding cuts putting pressure on well-loved local services.
In the afternoon, Jonathan spoke with enthusiasm and commitment to a lively audience at Newport’s Riverside Centre. A wide range of topics were tackled, including the threat to meeting climate change targets after the Brexit and Donald Trump votes this year. Mr Bartley highlighted the Green Party’s ‘Blue New Deal’ for coastal communities, to explore how different areas of the coastal economy – including tourism, energy, fisheries, and aquaculture – can help inspire and support each other, concerning more jobs and economic prosperity. He was pressed about working towards a ‘progressive alliance’ for elections, which has seen the Green Party step down from the Richmond parliamentary by-election next month with the aim of avoiding splitting the centre-left vote.
Bartley declared:
“A progressive alliance has to be open and transparent. I personally favour an Open Primary model to select a candidate”.
He continued to explain how he saw the Green Party as being particularly strong on the Isle of Wight and this should be reflected in any way forward. He concluded the discussion by looking to the Isle of Wight Council elections in May 2017, where he is confident that the IW Green Party will win seats, and called for islanders to support their campaign through a variety of means.
Jonathan has promised to return to the Isle of Wight in the near future. A series of other high-profile visits will be announced shortly.
