An Isle of Wight councillor has decried County Hall’s ‘bureaucratic governance’ and said the local authority is now ‘run by senior officers’ rather than elected representatives.
Very Broad Church group leader Councillor Geoff Brodie has said it has become increasingly clear that councillors were ‘misled’ by the authority’s finance director, leading to his own budget plan being ruled invalid.
In response, an Isle of Wight Council spokesperson said that under the constitution, full council decides County Hall’s budget, not officers.
The council passed its 2026/27 budget on Wednesday, 25th February.
Concern has grown that councillors were misinformed by finance director Chris Ward over the need for £13m of council reserves to be used as a transformation fund to support the director’s ‘unilateral application’ to government for a £13m loan permission (Exceptional Financial Support), Cllr Brodie has said.
The Pan and Barton representative added that many councillors had wanted to use these reserves to defend and protect jobs and existing services for Islanders but that the monitoring officer ruled that inadmissible on the basis of the finance director’s advice.
An attempt by the independent members of the council’s policy, finance and resources committee (PFRC) to hold Mr Ward to account was blocked by the monitoring officer, he said.
The councillor shared an email from PFRC chair Phil Jordan in which Cllr Jordan asked the monitoring officer, Christopher Potter, for an extraordinary PFRC meeting to be arranged before the official pre-elected period, starting on 30th March.
Mr Potter said he had ‘not been placed in a position’ to agree Cllr Jordan’s request in a response email.
An Isle of Wight Council spokesperson said:
“There was unfortunately insufficient capacity and resources to hold an additional meeting of the PFRC by the requested date of March 27, 2026.
“Under the constitution it is the full council itself that decides the council budget, not officers.
“When full council made its decision to set the council budget on February 25 2026 for 2026/2027, it was aware that the Exceptional Financial Support facility does not require any specific amount to be drawn down and that the matter will be looked at by councillors towards the end of that year in the light of the financial position then prevailing.”
Cllr Brodie said:
“It has become increasingly clear that the budget council was misled by the finance director, leading to my own budget proposal being ruled as inadmissible.
“Confirmation of this misleading has been secured from the government by Richard Quigley MP. This is yet another example of the way in which this council is now run by senior officers rather than those elected to do so.
“And those officers then avoid any public criticism. This is not what democracy is about. It is bureaucratic governance.”
In a 5th March letter to Cllr Jordan, Mr Quigley said:
“Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG) officials confirmed that the Section 151 Officer’s (chief financial officer) recommendations, while of statutory importance, do not legally bind the council to follow them.
“As long as the remaining funds will still satisfy CIPFA’s likely examination of council accounts, the council can – if it wishes – use a portion of its significant £28m financial reserves (including the transformation fund) to avoid further damage to services through cuts.
“We should not cut service capacity only to restore them at greater cost at a later date. The above advice from MHCLG confirms that the limited use of reserves is a viable financial pathway, and I would urge the council to consider it.”
The island could generate more revenue with islandwide
permit parking charges and towing illegally parked vehicles
away.
Every little helps
Brodie makes me laugh!
He says “this council is now run by senior officers rather than those elected to do so”
Most, if not all, of those “elected” could not run a bath, let alone a Council.
And this is all because it led to Brodie’s “own budget proposal being ruled as inadmissible”.
But, don’t worry Geoff you, along with most, if not all, of your fellow “elected” representatives will be gone soon.
Maybe then we can rein in the REAL “bad guys” – Island Roads – who treat our roads as though they were their own playthings, to do with what they will.