Island Echo always welcome letters to the editor, which may of course not reflect the views of the publication and its staff.
This letter comes after Yarmouth Town Council submitted their bid to retain the site of the former Yarmouth Primary School, as previously reported by Island Echo.
Letter to the editor – 28th September 2023
“It is generally accepted that there is a housing crisis, and in Yarmouth this is evident.
Article continues below this advertisement “The lack of affordable housing is impacting many people who cannot get a home of their own.
“The lack of working age people is now impacting on other services. Yarmouth Fire Brigade no longer has enough Retained Firemen so no fire engine is stationed at Yarmouth. Yarmouth Lifeboat are also struggling for crew and some pubs and restaurants are having to reduce opening hours due to lack of staff.
“Many residents now understand that this is a problem. This showed in the survey conducted by Yarmouth Town Council (YTC) about possible future uses of the Yarmouth School site where over 60% of responses supported the provision of Affordable Housing.
“Neither Government or the Isle of Wight Council seem to have the ability to build affordable housing here on the Island.
“Community Led Housing – a growing movement national – which is supported by both the Government and the Isle of Wight Council is the path by which small schemes can be built, but as the name implies it does mean the Community have to be involved. The Town Council has initiated this proposal for the School site.
Article continues below this advertisement “The YTC plan is for 8 units of 2 and 3 bedroom affordable houses to be let to families who have a family connection with Yarmouth or have been employed here for some time. The houses will be owned by the Community in perpetuity, and cannot be sold.”
Steve Cowley
YTC School Site Steering Committee
Let us be clear.Yarmouth has many second homes sitting empty.Lifeboat volunteers were usually old seadogs or fishermen, nobody is interested in fishing these days, or they can’t afford a boat.Due to the amount of second homes sitting empty they are unlikely to catch fire so a fire brigade is not needed, besides that, Freshwater fire station is just a few minutes away. Why do the the firemen have to live in Yarmouth? Pubs are shutting as nobody can afford to pay £42 for fish and chips
Bring the price of food and houses down and get rid of the second home owners and Yarmouth will thrive again.
With this plan ~ What will happen to someone who works in Yarmouth and lives in a new house, but then loses their job?
Homeless?
We don’t want young people in Yarmouth! Go to the mainland
Reason why fireman/woman have to live in Yarmouth is because it was run by retainer Fireman/women so need to get to the station fast
The MAIN reason there are staff shortages is because everyone who has a child gets so many benefits that it makes working pointless to them.
They get child allowance, then universal credit, then free or a pittance rent and council tax to pay, if as many claim they have a child with some disability, then even more cash. Add free meals , school transport WHY WORK?
Pride is replaced by a cushy lifestyle now.
If you had the choice of working like a dogs from 9~5 for £400 a week, from that money you have to pay for rent, child care, school meals, council tax, national insurance etc. You are left with a pittance. Or, you could have benefits plus free rent and council tax, free school meals, no need to pay for child care as you’re home, work hard and be poor, or don’t work and be comfortable.? It’s not about losing pride, it’s using common sense and what is best for you and your family.
Jane Ville people in Freshwater or Totland can get to Yarmouth in 5 minutes which is the required time limit for retained firemen so there’s no excuse. If there was a fire in Yarmouth, Freshwater crew would take longer to get set up and drive there.
Good grief it’s not that far away ?
Reckon there’s enough working age people in Yarmouth, but perhaps not enough who need to work.
“families who have a family connection with Yarmouth or have been employed here for some time.”
How does that solve the problem of getting people in to carry out needed jobs? Doesn’t make sense.
Fireman and lifeboat crew are a must have part of Yarmouth by the sound of it.
If you want to live in a house in Yarmouth then Mr Cowley will ask you to slide down a pole and to save seamen.
Then you’ll be asked if you can be a fireman or lifeboat crew.
Sounds like they want and need jobs to be filled but don’t want any newcomers!
Affordable Housing is 20% less than market prices, which is still 60% more than it was a decade ago. Young people can’t afford affordable housing, neither can families on minimum or close to minimum wage. There’s no room to save, no incentive to save, and there are indeed financial punishments in place directly to stop lower income families from ever being able to put together a deposit. It’s the way they’ve designed the system and it is now and forever broken.
Ew poor people
A system designed by extremely well-heeled people living in London. They think that what’s “affordable” there is “affordable” here. Out of touch? Ask Seely.
It’s all very well crying about affordable housing for locals – So why hasn’t Cowley included any affordable housing in the housing estate he wants to build in Wellow. All just market value/second homes for mainlanders. Nothing for the local community. Nothing except hypocrisy hiding behind faux Cycle track philanthropy, fields of solar panels, historically huge land stewardship grants and Councillor tentacles peddling meaningless Parish surveys about housing needs… Go figure!
Good points there, especially about there being no affordable housing on Mr Cowleys own property development.
There’ll be no riff raff in my back yard etc.
To quote Mr Cowley ~ Anarchy, acts of terror, crimes against the public. To combat it I’ve got special men – experts from the army, the police, from every service apart from the fire department or lifeboat- these are The Professionals.
Da da dah, dadada, da da, da da dadada da da dah.
Believe Cowley at your peril ..
You’re out of your element, Donny.
The Cowleys have always been out of their bumptious element.
That greenfield really tied the environmental rug together. Dude.
There isn’t a housing crisis.
There IS an immigration crisis!
But that is looking further afield than the isle of wight. Our housing problems are being brought here by the council in one form or another, and allowed into England by a weak left leaning Conservative government. See the big picture.
The only immigration issue on the Island here is the DFLs.
So you can curb your racist whinging…
Get your head out of your arse. Facts are not racist.
Immigration has been central to the development of Great Britain and surrounding islands since pre-Roman times.
The crisis is that necessary infrastructure isn’t being built and refreshed to support an ageing population and the needs of low income citizens from birth and new arrivals.
We have to build our way out of the low cost housing crisis (or convert hotels into care homes or mass HMO’s) and invest in training (and paying) our young to train instead of saddling them with debts for 7 year degrees.
1,2 million immigrants estimated in this country all needing housing plus 250,000 this year alone (to add to the total).
How would you propose you build your way out of that AND be inclusive for low income citizens (young and old) that are born here?
Mass HMO’s and the issues that always brings, mass housing estates, ditto.
What a wonderful future for the country you are proposing….
Time we got started, then.
But these immigrants are different! The aren’t Wight, they are poor. My parents were poor when they came from Ireland.
Nope if we followed a more ‘Amishy’, (without the bibles and beards maybe)
sustainable model instead of the industrial based monstrosity of the last century there would be a more balancing structure in place if following natural agricultural practices.Land is the most precious commodity we have not shiny cars and ego-signalling trinketry which the current…snake swallowing it’s own tail model is predicated on,end result…noise,air,greenfield pollution.
Our indigenous populace was finding it’s natural balance ratios before the immigration sluice gates were opened. We are seeing how this has panned out by the day.
No there isn’t, you’re either racist or gullible.
There’s a common myth of Malthusian origin that our planet is ‘overpopulated’ when it’s nothing close to the truth.What it really is,is ‘over-crowded’ and the UK is one of the very worst examples of hideous relentless ‘cramming them in’ deliberately so at the geopolitical levels and is catastrophic and highly unnatural.
Too much precious soil in the hands of oligarchs and monarchical parasites plundering our natural god given right to at least an acre of the stuff.The old trope about the worlds populace being able to fit (standing room only) on this island was apt for the 70’s maybe ? but the present populace would fit into an area the size of Alaska.With 2 or so acres per person,easily.
‘It is generally accepted that there is a housing crisis’
Generally accepted by whom?
If there truly was a housing crisis, why would the Council be handing homes to people from the mainland and newly arrived from abroad? Why wouldn’t they be housing the people already here who apparently need homes?
You can’t have it both ways. Either there’s a housing crisis and the Council looks to house those people, or there’s more than enough properties for them to be offered to newcomers. Which is it? The Council obviously thinks it’s the latter.
Sorry to trot out my usual trope but i feel it’s time to get real here ?.Nothing against golf…per se apart from a real sense that these courses would be better employed,either trimmed from say 18 to 10 holes or entirely turned over to a tasteful lodge park arrangement for islanders.
The foundations are already in place anyway ?.It’s disturbing to see how Ryde course in particular now has lavish houses peppering the perimeter for those who seem to enjoy hitting balls into holes rather than creating affordable tasteful lodges instead ?
This would go some way in calling time on more general greenfield plunder as well, one would hope ?