Roads, ferries and the future of tourism on the Isle of Wight came under the spotlight when a lively audience gathered for the latest State of the Island debate at All Saints Church in Ryde on Friday evening.
The event, organised jointly by Island Echo and the Isle of Wight Observer as part of Indie News Week, brought together leading figures from across the Island to discuss the challenges and opportunities facing residents and businesses.
Taking part in the panel were Isle of Wight Council leader Councillor Jonathan Bacon, Visit Isle of Wight Chief Executive Dominic Wray, Isle of Wight MPs Richard Quigley and Joe Robertson, Red Funnel CEO Fran Collins and the Isle of Wight Council’s Strategic Director of Community Services, Simon Moon.
The debate was chaired by Isle of Wight Steam Railway Chief Executive, Marc Morgan Huws.
The first topic of the evening focused on the condition of the Island’s roads, with panellists agreeing that improvements were needed. Mr Moon, who has been in post for just a few weeks, told those present that the Isle of Wight ranked among the top 5 local authority areas nationally for road condition.
However, he openly acknowledged concerns over the management of roadworks and said there was room for improvement, pledging to work to rebuild public confidence. A show of hands from the audience indicated that the majority of those present were dissatisfied with the current state of the road network.
Ferry services also prompted significant discussion, with Ms Collins facing questions on pricing, reliability and frequency. While accepting that dynamic pricing remained unpopular, she said the average return fare for an Island resident travelling with a car was £75.66.
Isle of Wight East MP Joe Robertson strongly criticised the practice, describing surge pricing as “bordering on the immoral“.
The issue of a fixed link – described by one audience member as ‘the elephant in the room’ – also featured prominently. Both MPs and Councillor Bacon expressed support for a feasibility study into a fixed link, a position that received backing from the majority of those present. However, a subsequent show of hands suggested audience members remained opposed to the idea of a tunnel.
When discussion turned to tourism, panellists agreed that stronger collaboration between organisations and stakeholders would be key to encouraging growth. Several also highlighted ferry prices as a barrier to attracting additional visitors to the Island.
Asked what realistic commitments they would make over the next 12 months, both Ms Collins and Mr Moon said rebuilding trust with Island residents would be among their priorities.
Supplementary questions from the audience covered the Assisted Dying Bill and opportunities for young people entering employment. The latter prompted an emotional response from Isle of Wight East MP Richard Quigley, underlining his commitment to improving prospects for younger Islanders.
Further in-depth coverage examining roads, ferries, tourism and the fixed link will appear on Island Echo over the coming days.
Island Echo and the Isle of Wight Observer would like to thank the audience, those watching online, the panellists and host Marc Morgan Huws, as well as All Saints Church for hosting the event.
A collection was held in aid of the Daisy Ring Bus, which transports Isle of Wight cancer patients to hospital appointments in Southampton and Portsmouth.
The main issue people have with demand pricing is that it is very opaque.
That £75.66 “average” is impossible to verify and what it actually represents is not clear.
Average is a very loose term mathematically and may refer to the mid point of all the possible prices which would be significantly skewed to the low end and take no account of the number of tickets available at each price.
We need transparency and proper averages that give the fare someone travelling during the day is likely to have to pay.
And the rest.
It is scandalous for such a short ferry crossing.
The Government should buy the ferry companies and
provide Island residents with affordable ferry fares.
No crossing needs to cost more than £40 for a return
crossing.
Wightlink etc employ too many employees.
Close the onboard cafes and install vending machines
for food and drinks.
Wightlink could save a fortune on wages and therefore
reduce ferry fares for everyone.
£75.76!! Ms Collins says that price almost patting herself on the back and thinking that we should be extremely grateful!! It’s still a disgusting rip off for what is an essential service!!
My son left the island many years ago and now lives
in the Big Smoke, he lives inside the congestion charge
zone, so he only has to pay 10% of the extortionate daily
charge when using his vehicle.
Persons living on the island receive no discount when
travelling to the mainland.
A 90% reduction would be much appreciated.
Time for a Bridge or Tunnel
It is ridiculous that persons wanting to travel to the mainland
or persons wanting to travel to the island from Pompey or
Soton have to pay ridiculous ferry fares or hovercraft fares.
£10 cheap day returns for passengers would mean that
more people would travel both ways more regularly and would
be good for businesses on both side of the water.
All these persons sit around a table, talk a load of nonsense
and achieve nothing.
None of these persons have to pay such ridiculous fares
so they have no idea.
Their expense claims cover their ferry fares.
A fixed link would be the end of Island as we know it and love it
The island would be more profitable for businesses and
Employment.
Love to know where they got the £75 ‘average’ from, and how the provider could have the gall to use that wonky figure to defend a travel charge more per mile than the ‘average’ space shuttle.
Whoever came up with this dodgy figure could replace
Rachel as chancellor.
We have a Tory MP who is complaining about surge pricing. Two thoughts then. The conservatives flogged off Wightlink and just about everything else and now moan about surge pricing.
it’s nothing new and holiday flights/accommodation are always more expensive in, err, peak holiday periods.
man amazing observation and position to take for an MP whose Party is the party of profiteering.