REW VALLEY SPORTS CENTRE COULD BE LEASED FOR 125 YEARS

A sports facility in Upper Ventnor could be leased for 125 years to the Island Free School – or face the threat of closure. The Rew Valley Sports Centre was formerly used by Ventnor Middle School until it closed in 2011 but after it was earmarked for closure, was leased to the Ventnor-based school. Now the lease is up and the Isle of Wight Council is looking to lease the sports centre and playing field to the free school again, on a peppercorn rent, for the next 125 years. If the lease is not granted, the council has said it does not have the money to enable the centre to continue operating, so the facility will close. A decision is set to be made later this month, by the authority’s deputy leader, Councillor Ian Stephens. The site, on Newport Road, can be used for indoor and outdoor cricket, rugby, hockey, and football and even has a running track. The council said the only interested party to date was the Island Free School. The Diocese of Chichester Academy Trust — which runs St Francis Primary Academy, which was built on the former Ventnor Middle School site — was offered the sports centre at the time the school was built in 2011. However the council says the diocese did not have the money to take it on, but the school has been able to rent the sports centre through an agreement. There would be no benefit to refuse the lease terms with the Island Free School now, the council says, in the hope that an alternative provider could be found. By agreeing the lease, the Free School will insure the building as well as keeping it clean and tidy and pay £2,000 towards the council’s legal fees. It would also have the right to break the lease at either 25, 50, 75 or 100 years. The council would not be responsible for any of the operating costs of the sports centre, which in 2014 were around £50,000.