IW Council commits to action on ferry problems

The Isle of Wight Council voted unanimously on Wednesday to work with the Island’s two new MPs to get the government to take action on the ferries.

A merged motion from Cllrs Michael Lilley and Ed Blake, pointed out that over the last two decades the services have become “more expensive, less regular and less reliable.

The document also called on council leaders to call urgent meetings with Red Funnel and Wightlink and said that the new government’s plans for rail and buses should include ferries, as “entirely privatised and unregulated Solent ferry services are no longer appropriate”.

Both IW East MP Joe Robertson and his counterpart in IW West, Richard Quigley were at the meeting in their capacity as councillors, and spoke in support of the motion, with Cllr Quigley describing the existing business model of the ferries as “vulture capital”. In encouraging all councillors to support it, Cllr Robertson said “this would be a really useful motion to help Richard, Phil [Jordan] and I as it will help us build the case.

Speaking after the meeting, Cllr Quigley revealed that Maritime Minister, Mike Kane is taking an active interest in finding a way to resolve the cross-Solent issues. The minister said: “In Richard Quigley the people of the West Wight have a real community champion. I’ll be meeting ferry operators in due course to discuss the issues impacting Islanders.”

Although the existing operators have remained tight-lipped about the calls for government intervention, including regulation, one potential operator has welcomed it. Wight Gateway, is the company which plans to run a vehicle and passenger ferry service between a new port to be built near Ryde and Portsmouth.

A spokesman said: “Our plans are progressing well, with ongoing discussions about the planning permissions needed. We are looking at a completely different funding model to other cross-Solent operators, with the opportunity for Islanders to invest and become owners of the new ferry service. Regulation of services is something we would very much welcome – if done well it would provide some certainty over service levels and fares for all Islanders.

“More competition would also have a beneficial effect on the whole market.”