By Carole Dennett
Financial planning for Ryde Marina has been thrown into uncertainty after Ryde Town Council confirmed that incomplete and unreliable income records – caused by a fraud uncovered last autumn – mean it is “impossible to be certain of the financial footing that underpins Ryde Marina.” A new business plan for 2026/27 describes the coming year as “one of consolidation and clarity,” with the council forced to reset projections for income and expenditure.
The scale of the disruption became clear at Wednesday’s full council meeting, where members were told that the authority had been required to qualify its Annual Governance Statement for 2025/26. The council could not confirm that it had maintained “an adequate system of internal control including measures designed to prevent and detect fraud and corruption,” following what the officer report describes as “financial irregularities discovered at Ryde Marina in October 2025.”
Although financial procedures and staff training were in place – including refresher training delivered in April 2025 – the papers for the meeting state that “a breach of process was still achieved and fraud committed.” The internal auditor advised councillors that the governance return must record a ‘No’ against a key fraud‑prevention assertion.
Since the fraud was identified, the council has undertaken “significant levels of investigation” and overhauled income‑handling procedures. A new digital marina management system was introduced in April 2026 to replace manual logging of berths, visitors and sales, and regular councillor scrutiny checks will begin this financial year. The year‑end financial report also notes that marina income for 2025/26 cannot be relied upon due to the ongoing investigation.
The fraudulent activity, involving a former marina employee, is understood to involve a sum of up to £60,000. Councillors were told that because the police investigation remains active, the authority is unable to comment further while enquiries continue.