More passion than progress was generated by an Extraordinary Full Council meeting on Wednesday evening, when councillors gathered for an indicative vote to guide the Cabinet’s decision on potential primary school closures. Only the Cabinet can make the final decision on school closures, with a meeting due on March 6, so the votes cast on Wednesday were non-binding.

The current consultation, which concludes on February 3, proposes closing five primary schools — Arreton St George’s C of E, Brading C of E, Cowes, Oakfield C of E, and Wroxall.

Members of the public asked impassioned questions, including about the future of individual schools, pre-school provision, special educational needs, and the failure of councillors to visit schools when invited. However, the replies they received mostly referred back to the ongoing consultation process. Although legally correct, the questioners clearly found the answers frustrating.

However, the meeting fell into confusion after councillors voted to replace a motion submitted by Cllr Geoff Brodie with another introduced on the night by Cllr Paul Brading. Cllr Brodie’s motion would have allowed councillors to vote on each closure individually, while Cllr Brading’s called for a collective view on the process and the closure notices as a whole. This led to complaints from several councillors who were uncertain about what they were voting for. Eventually, the motion was split into two separate votes — one on the process and another on the closure proposals.

Conservative councillor, Warren Drew, raised concerns that the process might leave the council open to a judicial review, pointing out that an ongoing judicial review in planning had already cost the council around £1 million. He voted against both the process and the closure notices. Meanwhile, his colleague, Cllr Ian Ward, argued that councillors should have faith in officers’ recommendations and supported both votes.

The Liberal Democrats and the two Empowering Islanders councillors present opposed both aspects of the motion, while Independent Labour, Cllr Geoff Brodie, supported the process but opposed the closure list. After the meeting, Cllr Brodie explained he disagreed with the proposed closure of at least one, possibly two, schools, suggesting they had been treated inequitably. While most Alliance Group members supported both motions, Cllrs Joe Lever and Rodney Downer opposed them. Cllr Downer, who has been at the forefront of a passionately fought campaign to save the school in Wroxall, was resolute in his opposition to the proposals.

The majority of Conservative councillors either abstained or did not attend the meeting. When asked for a comment on their reasoning, those who supported the process but abstained on the school closures did not respond to the IW Observer’s inquiry.

Reflecting on the meeting, Jonathan Bacon, cabinet member for education, criticised what he called a lack of clarity and understanding among some councillors. “This meeting was supposed to reflect the views of Full Council,” he said. “If anything, it revealed a significant misunderstanding of the place planning process and the educational challenges faced by the Island. Some of the votes cast simply did not make sense.

“I am still struggling to understand how some members could vote in support of the process but abstain or be against the list of schools that fell out of that process. We also saw unfortunate and inappropriate politicking. Overall, the meeting was of little help or use.

“We have severe problems with education on the Island and, until we address the challenges with the school estate and the resulting issues, we are not going to be able to improve the quality of education here.”

How councillors voted on school closure notices

Supporting closure notices

Cllrs Debbie Andre, Jonathan Bacon, Ian Dore, Paul Fuller, Julie Jones-Evans, Phil Jordan, Karen Lucioni, Lora Peacey-Wilcox, Ian Stephens (Alliance), Karl Love (Independent) and Ian Ward (Conservative).

Opposing closure notices

Geoff Brodie (Independent Labour), Rodney Downer, Joe Lever (Alliance), Andrew Garratt, Michael Lilley, Sarah Redrup, Nick Stuart (LibDems), David Adams (Independent), Chris Jarman, Peter Spink (Empowering Islanders), Warren Drew and Martin Oliver (Conservatives).

Abstained

Cllrs Michael Beston, Ed Blake, Paul Brading, Vanessa Churchman, John Nicholson and Chris Quirk (Conservatives).

Not present

Cllr Clair Crichison (Alliance), Richard Quigley (Labour), John Medland (Empowering Islanders), Stephen Hendry, Clare Mosdell, Tig Outlaw, Ray Redrup and Joe Robertson (Conservative).

Cllr Matthew Price (Conservative) left the meeting before the vote, and there is currently one vacancy in Central Rural after Suzie Ellis (Conservative) resigned at the end of last year.