The Isle of Wight Council says that services won’t be reduced as it looks to find £10million of savings to fill the COVID-19 black hole – but it will be looking to stall the Nicholson Road development in Ryde and purchase of Camp Hill, among other savings.
Due to the unexpected costs as a result of the coronavirus pandemic, the Isle of Wight Council has been left to find nearly £10million to cover expenses after funding from the government only covered part of the bill.
Council leader, Councillor Dave Stewart, is reassuring residents a Section 114 notice — essentially the ‘bankruptcy position’ — will not have to be issued. Instead, a ‘deficit reduction strategy’ has been drawn up by the council’s cabinet to find the cash needed.
Speaking at a meeting of the corporate scrutiny committee earlier this week, Cllr Stewart said:
“The finances for the Island are in a place where we are not facing a 114 situation.
“That said, people shouldn’t read into that that our finances are not in a challenging position.
“We feel we are in a contained financial position, which is impressive considering the amount of money we have had to spend but we are now working that through and I believe provided we maintain our headlights on the situation we are going to be able to get through this in a positive way.”
Areas where money will be cut from the budget include refurbishments of council buildings, regeneration and building projects as well as from money set aside. In total, nearly £11.5million will be found through the strategy — including ‘headroom’ of £1.7million to deal with any other unfunded COVID-19 costs.
As part of the £11million, money will be taken from reserves earmarked for short term risks — in this case, £3million that was set aside to cover any potential court costs as a result of the council’s legal battle over the Christ The King College sixth form building contract. That was not needed and will now be used instead to clear some of the deficit.
The refurbishments of Sandown Civic Centre and Ryde Help Centre will be put on hold, saving £875,000, as ‘lessons have been learnt’ from current working arrangements, including those working from home. This ties in with £50,000 being saved to further increase the flexible use of office accommodation within council buildings.
Nearly £1million pounds can be saved from the re-purposing of the first floor of Westminster House, a respite centre in Newport, as the intended outcomes have been achieved through other means.
Perhaps the biggest plan to be put on hold is for the Nicholson Road development in Ryde, which would see more houses, industrial space and a GP surgery if planning permission is granted. £260,000 will be saved by postponing further enabling work once the council say planning permission is secured.
Further steps to buy the Camp Hill site are also in the firing line, as £300,000 set aside for the production of the outline business case will be taken away as the council require assurances from the Ministry of Justice to give ‘sufficient confidence’ to invest in the business case.
Delays in securing a business partner for the development of Sandham Middle School allow the scheme to be deferred, adding £860,879 to reducing the deficit.
In council papers, Cllr Stewart says the items have been deferred to a later date but ‘should the council’s financial position improve these items of expenditure will be reconsidered, so they are not abandoned altogether, but that may be the case if no new funding is secured for their delivery’.
Cabinet member for finances and resources, Cllr Stuart Hutchinson said there is a couple of issues financially but new funding has been announced from Government — a ‘relatively modest sum’ from a fund of £500 million shared between about 343 local authorities and a 75% support for the loss of council’s income, including from the Floating Bridge, parking fees and leisure centres.
Speaking at the scrutiny meeting, Cllr Hutchinson said:
“We probably won’t get the full 75 per cent but it will give us several millions towards that black hole. We are awaiting the final detail and we don’t know when we will get it.
“We think we may be able to finish this financial year without going into a section 114 order but we do still have to find savings for next year.
“We do face a serious challenge for the next financial year and we will start working on that in the next couple of months.”
Ryde needs this green space left alone, as does the wildlife which depends upon it for food and creating burrows, dens, nests and shelter amongst the many trees and hedges which have been there for hundreds of years.
Preston Farm was mentioned in the Doomsday book, as Preston farm was a manor house. Medieval fish ponds are in evidence, and the site was of importance in our past.
I say it is equally important now, as a green space for people to enjoy, dogs to roam, and to provide a much needed breath of fresh air, to the claustrophobia march of tarmac, concrete and brick, or likely cheap cladding, as Ryde becomes one huge sprawling mass.
Yet it is more important to the wild plants, ancient varied species of hedgerows, trees and all that countless insects, birds, mammals which have no voice, but, like us, only have one life.
Leave this area alone, permanently, as a buffer zone, a green Oasis, a free natural space, not a marked route, or a ready made ‘playground’, but an area where children can make their own entertainment, where people can freely wander with a pet, and when the dogs, the adults, and the children have left, the animals, can do as they have done, for Centuries, enjoy their one life in this unspoilt ancient grassland.
Breaks my heart that my childhood playground is even on the cards for complete destruction, sir. The grasping, arrogant fools who want money fom this proposed extermination of Ryde’s natural garden need to have a taste of the same treatment they’ll mete out to the wildlife they’ll conveniently disappear before they get permission on the grounds that significant numbers of badgers, owls, bats, and snakes are not present. They’ll be gassed, poisoned, shot etc. Or a large mysterious fire might break out, and unknown youths blamed….
Has a proper wildlife survey been done yet?
If so, is it available to the public or hidden behind closed doors?
If no survey has been done, why?
For all we know, there could well be protected plants of wildlife there.
I know for a fact that Barn owls hunt there, and they are quite rare now, and likely live in the barns at Prestwood farm, or the older trees in the ancient hedgerows at the back of Great Preston rd.
Also there are many wasp spiders living in the little field behind the bungalows along GP rd.
I found a Bronze age axe head years ago in the field behind those bungalows and it is recorded with the I.W archology dept, so heaven knows what other ancient history is in that soil, but developers are not keen on anyone on site reporting such as it delays their money making game. So don’t expect to ever hear of any rare wildlife or ancient remains.
Well put, Perry Hill.
Please, you I.O.W. Planners, no more urban sprawl. We need the whole of the Isle of Wight to be designated A.O.N.B. Please, M.P. Bob, help us out before we are suffocated by more and more pollution (in every sense of the word).
This a lovely place to live if i wanted an urban sprawl with the likes of what all these houses are taking our fresh air from us who live on the island .Go away and at least take notice that the islanders do not want anymore PLEASE TAKE NOTICE of the people who pay their council tax to keep all the fat cats in the so called jobs after all the golf club is a better place to be instead of that awful council building. MY SOAP BOX IS PUT AWAY UNTIL YOU ANOY ME ANY MORE.
just build the houses or sell the land…….when was the last time any of you walked on it? its like woolworths, everyone was sad but no one used it anymore anyway…… same as that dinosaur the ice rink