The deputy mayor of Shanklin Town Council has resigned, citing inaction over Big Mead Pond’s dangerously low water and suggesting a rift with the town’s mayor.
Councillor Adrian Whittaker’s resignation letter on 31st July said that several important projects had either been significantly delayed or simply hadn’t progressed in a timely manner. As a result, he said he could no longer effectively work with Mayor Sara Sheath.
However, Conservative Shanklin town and county councillor Chris Quirk has said the deputy mayor’s resignation was a ‘futile gesture’.
Cllr Whittaker, who will continue to serve as a town councillor, pointed in particular to the state of the Big Mead Pond. Supplies of emergency water to top up the pond’s levels had been sought, which required funding from Shanklin Town Council.
Adrian said:
“We left it with the town mayor to authorise it because she can use delegated power but nobody could get hold of her and she didn’t respond to any of the messages until Wednesday.
“She said she wasn’t authorising the water – according to the Isle of Wight Council’s email from ten days ago there was enough water in there.”
Cllr Whittaker said the email from County Hall had become factually wrong due to it being out of date.
He pressed for STC to use its town improvement fund, comprising tens of thousands of pounds, citing Big Mead’s significance for the town’s tourism offer. But at last Thursday’s STC meeting, Mayor Sheath confirmed she would not authorise the water.
Having measured water levels prior to the meeting, he said the pond was like ‘bubbling pea soup’.
Other grievances Cllr Whittaker raised included the closing of public toilets, delays in installing benches by Big Mead and town centre planters which he said look hideous.
He also admitted the rift between himself and Mayor Sheath, both Conservative Party members, has probably caused tension within the local Shanklin Conservative group.
Former Shanklin mayor Cllr Quirk, responding on behalf of STC, said:
“Cllr Whittaker has resigned as deputy mayor, giving as his reason the fact that the town council is not spending possibly tens of thousands of pounds of local council tax payers money in his preferred solution to addressing what we all consider to be critically low levels of water in the historic carp pond.
“Although the Isle of Wight Council plays down its responsibility for Big Mead and the pond, the park and the pond are Isle of Wight Council property, and whilst the town council has contributed financial support and organising volunteer working parties, the statutory obligations relating to the pond in terms of its historic significance, it support of biodiversity, and the health and safety impact of possible blue/green algae toxins sit clearly with the Isle of Wight Council.
“Whilst we have sympathy with overworked and underfunded council officers, the Isle of Wight Council must accept its responsibility to deliver on its statutory duties and fund the resources to fulfil them.”
Cllr Quirk said that while STC shares Cllr Whittaker’s concerns regarding Big Mead, it believes the correct way forward is to work alongside County Hall.
An Isle of Wight Council spokesperson has said:
“We would like to reassure residents that Big Mead Pond continues to be actively managed and monitored.
“A recent inspection confirmed that the fish remain healthy and the water level, while lower than usual due to the prolonged dry weather, is not currently at a critical level.
“Recent data shows there has been no significant change in the water levels, as can be seen from the attached photographs.
“The pond has various depths ranging, with shallower parts at approximately 400mm in depth by the island, while at the back of the pond by the bridge, the water levels are considerably deeper.
“The pond is fed by a natural spring on the downs, which has been affected by the recent dry conditions.”
Typical of a Mayor to not care about this issue, so the deputy mayor has to resign because of his views and not being listened too. At least this mayor is actually in the public eye, unlike Ventnors mayor who seems to be incognito and placing a phone number on his council page which doesn’t even work, oh and keeping a town cryer in place who can’t even get basic facts correct, hic. Oh and locking public toilets up with someone inside, how did that be kept quiet. (The ventnor town cryer cleans the toilets too)
And you if they could stop people who still insist on throwing bread in the pond which the fish and ducks do t want but the rats do residents around the area would be awfully grateful not rocket science people kept your bread in your own kitchens it’s not needed by the wildlife at The Pond.
Never seen the fish or ducks not eat the bread people throw in.
some punctuation might help
Why so many mayors, you would have thought that
between them, they could stop vehicles parking on
both sides of Regent Street.
With vehicles parked both sides of the street it is
DANGEROUS
Tory handbags at dawn!
And that’s only the men
lol
Really?? Couldn’t organise a P-up in brewery springs to mind! Why does it cost tens of thousands to put some water in a pond?