By Press Release
I hope that, like me, you will be able to get some time off over the Easter weekend, and catch up with friends and family, or maybe just get some much-needed down-time.
Things have been somewhat hectic in the council in the last few weeks as we have, once again, been in discussion with government about fair treatment for the Isle of Wight.
As part of a formal process I arranged a meeting, which the MP also attended, at which we, once again, put forward the case that the Island is different from other parts of England and to illustrate that the fact that you cannot get here by road, as you can to almost every other part of the country; it makes a significant difference to our economy. What seems like a small stretch of water does isolate the Island, for better and for worse, and it costs the council more to deliver its services.
The isolation costs us all time, money and opportunities, and this has to change, so we can look to the future with confidence. I hesitate to use the term ’Island Deal’. Various promises have been made in relation to providing such a deal, including one by a recent previous Prime Minister, and none have been kept. Instead, we simply need to ensure that the Island is put on the same footing as other parts of the country. This is surely what the term ‘levelling up’ (which, it seems, the government is still actively pursuing) means.
The fact that despite this ‘economic prejudice’ we can still operate where other councils on the mainland have already failed is something we can be somewhat proud of, but it does not alter the basic fact that, until this situation is addressed, we, as a council, cannot serve residents as we want to or should.
I will keep working on this as it is crucial to our future but, for now, I wish you a happy Easter and hope that we get good weather to be able to enjoy all that our beautiful Island has to offer over the weekend.
