Political tensions dating back years have made a return this week after councillors rejected plans to move forward with an Isle of Wight dinosaur theme park, sending the funding elsewhere.
Frictions came to the fore at Sandown Town Council (STC) on 22nd June after Councillor Paddy Lightfoot said he was ‘disappointed to hear’ that a member of the public body had tried to revive Dinosauria.
Though branded a £33 million ‘Disneyland-like’ investment by County Hall’s previous Conservative administration, Alliance cabinet ministers opted not to move forward with the dinosaur-themed visitor attraction plans for Sandown in 2021.
After Reform UK Isle of Wight Cllr Frank Baldry signalled he was behind the revival attempt, Cllr Lightfoot said it was ‘contrary’ to a STC decision.
Sandown Mayor Alex Lightfoot said:
“I don’t control County Councillors. All I can reiterate is that this Town Council’s formal voted position is that we support the International School of Rewilding (ISR) and not Dinosauria.
“It was a pretty much unanimous vote at the time. The Building the Bay Steering Group, which is comprised of 3 Town and Parish Councils across the Bay unanimously supported it, the Bay Business Association supports it, the Chamber of Commerce is likely to, and other partners are already lining up.
“But hey, Dinosauria has been opposed pretty much every time it rears its head. I think it will slow absolutely everything down so let’s not go down that road.”
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Last summer, STC agreed to support an ISR proposal for a 140-hectare site, immediately to the north west of the Wildheart Animal Sanctuary, with elk-rewilded wetlands and visitor facilities.
Firing back, former Isle of Wight Conservative Cllr Ian Ward said:
“I support Frank and Dinosauria as you would expect. I hear this all the time: ‘they agree it, they agree it, they agree it.
“The trouble is, they’re never offered an alternative. They’re only told one side of the story.”
Mayor Lightfoot in response said Dinosauria has been ‘rumbling along’ in the background for ten years and said previous feedback from all council officers was that it was a ‘non-viable proposal’.
Criticisms he levelled at the theme park project, which was planned for Culver Parade, included that it was not ‘sympathetic’ to what was already there, there being a ‘paywall’, and a lack of alignment with Bay Area Place Plan objectives.
The mayor said the ISR is in just ten months ‘significantly further along the journey’ than Dinosauria ever reached.
Cllr Ward said:
“How many more times must I tell you.”
“Because it was stopped dead by the independents, that’s why it never got down the line.”
