Minor changes are being made to the plans for Ryde Interchange, following a public consultation which was met with mixed reactions.
Due to the large number of comments on the scheme, the Isle of Wight Council has had to further delay the decision to implement the highways portion of a larger transport scheme being considered in partnership with Wightlink and South Western Railway.
The £10million funding for the scheme to reinstate the tramway pier, refurbish the train station and bus interchange all in aid of interconnectivity in the South was awarded through the government’s Transforming Cities Fund.
The delayed report will now go to the October cabinet meeting, where councillors will be asked to approve the findings and start placing orders for works and services to meet the deadline of March 2023.
Councillor Phil Jordan, cabinet member for transport and infrastructure, said the council wanted the time and ability to take on board and adapt plans following the comments. He said minor changes to the scheme were being drawn up and added to the draft plan, but it was important they got the highways aspect, and everything related to it, right and fitting well in the area.
Speaking after this month’s cabinet meeting, Cllr Jordan said one of the changes being made was to the width of the access road to the pier.
The draft redesign, which is still ongoing, has removed some of the parking spaces to the left-hand side as vehicles approach the pier as well as reducing the number of drop off points to add more planting.
Plans for the tramway pier, put forward by Wightlink, have been approved but the works to the train station on Ryde Esplanade have yet to be made public. Unlike previous plans, the building is not expected to be knocked down and there will be no quick access to Hovertravel’s Ryde terminal.
A petition, signed by more than 2,500 Islanders, will be presented to the Isle of Wight Council at its full council meeting on Wednesday (15th September) that asks the council to use the planning process when changing Ryde Esplanade.
The council has previously responded to the petition, saying those who started the petition ‘misinterpreted’ the planning process the council is required to follow when developing highway improvements.
Why don’t they use the money to do the the train and bus station up and leave the rest alone it’s been work this way with no problems
Why ? There’s nothing wrong with them! Old world charm and living history in action (especially the train station). The modern look is so out of Vogue. Most towns on the mainland would bite your hand off to have such a lovely Victorian working station. As for the bus station,it is pure iconic 50’s architecture. It is the little quarks like this,that makes the island special. Look at how they have ruined Newport bus station ! We do not want to be a mini clone of Croydon. What do rural England, national heritage and the local tourism board say about this ? Especially the latter ! This council are a complete and utter embarrassment.
Brading Railway station apparently had gas lights illuminating it until recent times so I was told. I’d love it if it was like that now. Anyway, I agree it would be nicer if Ryde had more olde worlde charm, but I think you mean little quirks, quarks are subatomic particles. Up, down, beauty, charm, if I remember rightly, or did you mean to say that:?
??? Yes I meant to say that lol. Why do some people on this site take such issue with the odd spelling mistake or typo error. I don’t come on this site for f-in English lessons ! (Innit tho)…..x
You meant to say quarks? Well they’re certainly little. Minuscule in fact. Infinitesimally small. But I’m guessing you meant to say quirks. Sometimes precision is important, not so much here maybe where one can guess what you meant to say, but in some instances to be precise is vitally imperative.
we do not want it – what part of that do you not understand – it is a waste of money, that will simply disrupt the businesses in that area, the ability of the residents to actually enjoy the properties they own/rent and of course the disruption to traffic will be the usual shambles.
once again, little dictators that do not even live in the affected areas think it is ok to wreck the environment with all this building and ignore the views of those affected
If they bring back the old trams would be of some interest, but apart from that, what’s the point of asking as they won’t take any notice anyway if they have already made up their minds they are going to do it. Shame they can’t return that area of the seafront to how it used to be with the charming gardens and little wall, now it is too modern, and going to make it even worse again. This is not what the Island should be known for, it should be more quaint and old fashioned in aspect. This would attract a better sort of visitor anyway, and less chavvy types like we seem to get such a lot of now.
From the start they said changes wouldn’t be made other than planting and the ‘merry go round’ with this consultation is just that – round and around for no purpose.
I’m sure lots of people wanted to change the width of the access road to the pier, and reduce parking for more planting. What a joke! Is that all he has to say.
They might as well have consulted on what type of concrete to use.
Waste of time.
Consultations are just a sham and openly ignored.
The same will be true for this petition like all others it will have no effect.
Even basic democratic process seems to have failed – Some of the faces may change but the actions and attitude remain the same.
Unfortunately, other than our money there is absolutely nothing the council wants or needs from us which means we have no leverage.
At the end of the day they will just pay lip service to the red tape and push on with whatever they want.
Clearly all that happens is IF they ‘consult’ with the public, then they will just choose to use publci views that they had ALREADY planned to do anyway
That way they can say they listend to the public, and blame such if or when it all goes wrong.
I know, I work for the council.
Mr W, an ex councilor will gain from these plans and he owns a lot of business at Ryde seafront and is known to lye in bed straight difficult
I hope they raise the proposed walkway up a few feet. Current design will see it under water at the highest tides, about four days each month. And with it in place the road will be closed to people walking meaning you’ll be stuck at the end of the pier.
Pity the council doesn’t spend this money on more important things such as a floating bridge that actually works. If the existing interchange was given a good clean and repaint, it’d be fine.
Correct me if I am wrong. But am I right in saying that this money comes from central government,and if it is not spent on the Ryde interchange scheme alone,the money will be forfitted,and any further future grants will be withheld. ???? If this is true the cc should make this public knowledge.
Don’t fix it,if it ain’t broke !
Ryde has never been very successful with its seafront ‘improvements’. Look at the horrible ice rink (why does an indoor ice rink require a beachfront location anyway); the non-descript Hover terminal, the 1920s Pavilion with an indoor bowling alley bolted on. Initially the Pavilion had a café/restaurant on the north side overlooking the Solent, therefore it had to be ‘improved’ and the restaurant is now located on the south side of the building, overlooking the traffic on the Esplanade roundabout and Dover Street. And more recently a cast-iron fence between the Hover building and The Esplanade was replace with a cheap wooden fence.
Minor tweaks won’t turn the Council’s car-dominated monstrosity into an acceptable “improvement”. With Historic England, the 20th Century Society, several top Urban Designers, a highway engineer experienced in Urban Design, local businesses, not to mention over 2500 petitioners, against this unsustainable, unsafe and ugly intended use of public money, only a complete redesign, or “leave it alone”, will do. With no Heritage Impact Assessment, inadequate or non-existent discussion with Isle Access and WightCycle, no Stage 1 Road Safety Audit (at the time of so-called “consultation”) and no visualisations, Councillors have been misled.
It’s tragic that they altered the seafront in the first place many years ago, taking away the gardens and small wall running alongside the gardens which separated the gardens from the pavement and road. There used to be donkeys on the beach down there (the steps leading down to beach in that area are now gone). and was altogether quite quaint and charming. They tried to destroy all its character by making it more like the mainland, and that was the fatal mistake. If only they could return it to how it used to be. Also remember the cafe that used to be in Pavilion and there was a little walkway down to the beach, gone now.l