A petition to install railings along the Sandown-Shanklin revetment has been launched by a concerned local following an incident which saw a young boy rushed to hospital after falling from the sea wall at the weekend. As first reported by Island Echo, resources from the Isle of Wight Ambulance Service – as well as Coastguard Rescue Teams from Bembridge and Ventnor – were called to the Sandown end of the seafront promenade on Sunday afternoon after frantic 999 calls were made at around 15:00. Due to the severity of the situation, the boy was rushed to St Mary’s Hospital under blue lights and sirens in a convoy of vehicles. Island Echo understands that the youngster remains in hospital. Following Sunday’s events, resident Anthony Parsons has set up a petition saying he is ‘deeply concerned about the safety of community members’. On the change.org website, Anthony has said:
“The esplanade that stretches between Shanklin and Sandown is a beautiful place where locals and tourists alike come to enjoy the scenery. However, it lacks one crucial element – safety railings. “The installation of safety railings along this stretch would not only provide physical protection but also peace of mind for those who frequent this area. It’s not just about preventing accidents; it’s about creating an environment where everyone can feel safe while enjoying our beautiful esplanade. “Let us prioritize our community’s safety by urging local authorities to install these much-needed railings. Please sign this petition today to help make our esplanade safer for everyone who uses it.”
At present, railings are only in place at certain points along the revetment and are not a constant presence on the popular coastal route. Anyone wishing to sign the petition should do so here.
After the complection of the risk assessment, it was found that lack of supervision was at fault !
No more construction that doesn’t help preserve the island digging drilling disturbs the ground making matters worse
The child was kicking a ball along and fell off. The parents should have been keeping an eye on him. Silly accident really.
Im not sure thats true my daughter knows yhe family and it was definitely not due to lack.of supervision
Wont happen,allegedly the council have no money for this,but ok for 30 grand to resurface a car park that doesnt need it!
resident Anthony Parsons has set up a petition saying he is ‘deeply concerned about the safety of community members’.
you want them, you pay for them – as we do not want them
What a sad and ridiculous comment.
Come on I grew up in the bay and never fell off the wall, I feel for the lad who is hurt but come on let’s stop this snowflake generation and man up! Where is the money going to come from to do this? Why do we need to have this when 99.999999999% of people walking here don’t falll off? Please don’t ruin our beaches and amazing places for summer fun! And I will wait for the Karen’s along with people of the bay moaning about council tax rises!!!!
I think we should put up a six foot fence when you see some one having problems in the water you can watch them for longer.But it will not stop them climbing over what nothe hell is going on
“Come on I grew up in the bay and never fell off the wall”
I also grew up there (not that anyone called it ‘the bay’ then,.. where TF did that term come from ?)..
fell of that revetment many times,.. usually when walking home pi$$ed,..
never even contemplated that there should be railings…
H&S gone mad,.. what ever happened to personal responsibility for ones own safety (or that of your children)
Do you know the facts of this situation. I do so just stop assuming you know ehen you dont
These days most people are on there mobile phones. I agree what happens if someone needs help at sea with railings up.
IW council not got any money
No.
Shall we also make the road surfaces out of jelly so motorcycle riders don’t scratch themselves if they fall off.?
Drain the sea also to make it safe from swimmers drowning.?
Keep eye on children at all times, where were the parents.?
This generation is unreal.
What is the next generation going to be like ~ all wrapped up in cotton wool and too scared to walk outside.?
Why do you make this about age? I agree with your points but not the “this generation” irrelevance. No need for your ageist remarks whatsoever.
This should have always been the case,
Health and Safety is Poor on the island.
Railings should also be installed along Shanklin Esplanade.
A number of years ago a Professor sadly died due to a vehicle
driving onto the beach along Shanklin Esplanade.
A vehicles in most cases, unless slow rolling, would destroy pedestrian railings.
Yes they did unfortunately, but that car also rammed though a office first and if that didn’t stop the car how strong do you intend these railings to be?
Ridiculous suggestion or do you think every road should have barriers to stop children running out into traffic too?
That was not the fault of H&S or lack of railings.
That was the fault of the car driver.
Shall we place railings in the centre of every road to stop cars hitting each other.?
Shall we place railings along the edges of pavements to stop pedestrians getting hit by cars mounting the kerb.?
No.
Learn to drive properly.
Its the parents fault! 1 boy falls? Put rails up? Parent was irresponsible more like
Whilst this is an awful accident, knee jerk reactions demanding railings is very unhelpful. For one, this is not an esplanade or a promenade, it is a revetment, ie a sea wall. The fact we can walk along the top is a nicety of it’s engineering, it is not even a public right of way, hence why no one can ban cyclists. Secondly, the cost would be prohibitive, it would be cheaper to just fence it off and prevent all access. Thirdly, people and guardians of youngsters should ensure that they use the revetment in a responsible way, whilst Mr Parsons seems to think people walk along the revetment in terror of falling off, it has been like this since it’s construction and if anyone felt that unsafe they could always walk on the beach.
What do you do if you can see there is a long drop off something that has no railings on it to stop you falling off?
YOU STAY AWAY FROM THE EDGE OF IT SO YOU DON’T FALL OFF, DON’T YOU. Nothing to do with it having railings or not. What do you do if you see a bad tempered dog that you KNOW will bite you? Go up and stroke it? I have no time for people won’t their savvy. an then try and blame someone else
Imagine the cost, let alone the ongoing annual cost of maintaining them. It’s longer than it looks. People need to take responsibility and actually parent / supervise their children, instead of letting run rings and blaming the council and everyone else – they’re your kids, they’re your responsibility! Seems parents can’t parent these days.
It’s probably at least £50k if not more. And if you do this one, then some people are going to demand everything on the coast with more than a 2 foot drop is done. (The council really would get sued if it did one place and not another).
If you have to do every place, then your looking at least £1m.
The other point about putting any new infrastructure anywhere is somewhere down the line you have the cost of maintenance, in this case, dealing with rust, repainting, making sure the thing is always stable. So in a few years time you’ve also committed council tax payers to further costs.
add to that the fact that if you put railings up, some kid will climb them to get over & then fall even further!
then some tvvat will insist on a 6′ wire fence, to stop kids climbing on the railings….
your taxes will go up …
Sorry about the injured ,but this type of accident is rare, more.like parent control rather than the expense of railings.
I’ll set up a petition to not have railings because this is the only accident to happen here.
If you put railings there you have to put railings around every beach on the island that has a drop or what is the point. It the parents fault probably on their phone at the time it happened
Yeah let’s have railings,I love railings, I rolly Polly on them I balance walk on them ,and all the seagull poo that attaches to them adds a great scenery too,maybe at the ends off the revetment we could have a volunteer dishing out safety hats that could probably save 1 live every 50 years
Whilst this is very sad, parents do often lack the powers of supervision. I have seen many a young child walking along using the kerb as a tightrope alongside a busy road in Sandown centimeters from passing traffic with the parents some way behind either yapping to each other or talking on their phones. Maybe we need railings along all the roads to cover this eventuality too.
That sea is dangerous too.Someone could drown.Can we fence it iff?
I grew up on Sandown Seafront. Never fell off the wall. I fully suspect the child wasn’t being supervised, the parents now feel very guilty – as they should – and are now looking to pass blame.
Anthony Parsons setting up a petition for a safety fence is ridiculous. So are they now going to fence off the whole of the sea wall? From Sandown through Lake and to Shanklin? Just absurdity! Parents should be watching their children. And furthermore children should be taught that it is dangerous to teeter along the edge of a drop!
Health and Safety gone mad!
Too busy on the phone
This is absolutely not the case
I’m tempted to sign the petition,.. Just so I can leave a comment as to what a stupid f-ing idea it is !
Kid ran off and fell off the wall. The parents are to blame for not keeping a close eye on the kid, so don’t spend out on thousands on something that is not “essential”, perhaps he is one of the ADHD brigade and was flying around on speed.
Your comments are disgusting you have no ifea what happened. You know nothing
If you put up railings kids will climb on them so no safer and very expensive. It was a bit silly of the parents not to tell him to take his football onto the beach,it was low tide.I slipped in the mud just after this happened but I was just muddy and hurt my pride,reason being I was not walking anywhere near the edge! The parents should have been more careful,I appreciate accidents happen but I’m not up for paying for railings .
Why not fence everywhere you can fall over because we are to stupid to look where we are going.
Why was the child allowed to be kicking a ball along there in the first place!!! Come on parents why are you not using common sense!! Never been railings before and not needed now, if you had been walking by cliff edge would you be letting child play ball? Think people.
to be fair, I don’t think it’s the parents of the injured child who are suggestign there should be railings,..
It seems to be just this health & safety obsessed Anthony Parsons
(and his followers / like-minded fellows, who presumably don’t consider that parents should be responsible for their children, or that they will have to pay for it)
Railings all around would be an eyesore.
Well if this location needs railings, so does the whole of Shanklin seafront, Culver to Yaverland and numerous other places. Let’s just closely supervise our pets and children instead and ensure no vehicles can mount the esplanades.
WOW….How long has it been there???? We might as well all stay in and not go out where there may be danger… Parents too busy looking at their phones instead of what their kids are up to.
When will people learn that it is their responsibility to take care of themselves and their offspring and not the rest of us.I suppose they will want fences along all pavements next.
Hopefully the lad of the incompetent parents will fully recover after learning a valuable lesson his parents should have given. Guard rails only protect the stupid and interfere with natural selection.
There are too many sea walks without guard rails on the island to install then everywhere.
With this logic, we should put railings along all cliff edges too. Or maybe just teach kids to keep away from anywhere where there is a drop where they could hurt themselves.
If railings were installed they would need to be anti-climb railings to avoid people climbing or sitting on them, therefore potentially falling from a greater height. These could then be deemed a health risk and the council open to litigation .
Electrified fencing that should help prevent it happening again !