Town Clerk: Ady White/Saskia Kiernan, P O Box, 179, Ryde, PO33 9DR; Tel: 01983 811105/811196

Town Clerk: Ady White/Saskia Kiernan, P O Box, 179, Ryde, PO33 9DR; Tel: 01983 811105/811196 Email:

Annual Report 2010-11

At the recent Annual Town Meeting for electors, the Mayor of Ryde, Cllr Brian Harris, gave the following report on the Town Council’s activities for the preceding year:

“2010-11 has been the third year that Ryde Town Council has been in existence, with 16 Members representing the 8 wards that form Ryde, Binstead and Haylands. It has raised a precept of around £200,000 for each of those three years.

“The Council currently doesn’t have any offices, and its four staff [one full time, the others part time] work from their homes to undertake a range of projects and initiatives aimed at improving Ryde and maintaining its status as befits the Island’s largest town.

“The Town Council has continued to work hard in the past year to build on its role in, and links to, the local community. Members have approved the awarding of around £15,000 of grant funding to diverse groups such as 54 St Johns Road, Ryde Arts Festival, the Carnival Association, the Historic Ryde Society and the British Legion, as well as many more groups that are quietly doing sterling work in making Ryde a vibrant and caring town.

“The Council itself has completed a range of projects aimed at improving the town’s appearance: Christmas and summer decorative lighting, a planting scheme in Binstead and a new year-round scheme incorporating both lighting and planting in St Thomas’s Square. Additionally, some of its Esplanade noticeboards have been changed into local maps at no cost to the Council.

“The Council also launched Ryde In Bloom to celebrate the hard work of residents, community groups, businesses and others in brightening up the town. This led to Ryde, on a trial basis, being the only Island community to enter South & South East in Bloom last year. Against dozens of towns and villages across the region, many being very experienced, Ryde won Silver, which was an amazing achievement, so thanks to all residents who look after their own gardens, as well as the Isle of Wight Council’s Parks & Beaches, and their contractors. Also, special thanks to Mike Fitt, OBE, Chairman of the Royal Parks Guild, who guided the Council along the tortuous path. Work has already started on Ryde in Bloom 2011.

“The Town Council has again sought to promote the town as a unique tourist destination through publication of the Ryde Town Map, an Events Poster and the commissioning of a promotional video about Ryde that was shown on the Wightlink ferry fleet last summer.

“Town Councillors sit on many local groups such as Older Voices, Action Groups and Residents’ Associations. In the last couple of months, the police have set up their Local Action Groups, which are also attended by Councillors.

“The Town Council has now become a landowner and landlord. Firstly, when it agreed to take on responsibility for the skatepark on Ryde Esplanade – it’s working closely with users, the police and others to make this a fantastic facility for young people; secondly, when it took full control of the five allotment sites in Ryde. It’s now sorting out the tenancy agreements with plot-holders.

“The Town Council remained united in its battle to retain the Tesco Section 106 monies for use in Ryde, and has worked with the Business Association and other businesses on the new John Street Square plans; although not be to everyone’s taste, it has been a good use of the small amount of money available, which legally had to be spent by IWC in the High Street area. The small residue left is to be used to uplift the brick seating in the High Street, and thereby the whole street scene.

“The Town Council’s hands are somewhat tied by the limitations of its powers: it often has to try to instigate improvements and change through the pressure that it can bring to bear on the Isle of Wight Council. In the past year the Town Council has again protested forcefully, but constructively, against a range of policies and decisions implemented by the Isle of Wight Council. These included changes to Youth Services, planning matters, anti-social behaviour in the Meaders Road area, and many more. A significant achievement was the lobbying of the IWC to extend parking time in the Upper High Street – a change that RTC hopes will improve business in this part of the town. That one change took a couple of years!

“The issue that has proved most challenging for the Town Council over recent months has been the budget cuts imposed by the Isle of Wight Council and the Town Council’s response to these. From the outset the Town Council took the issue very seriously; this was not a party political matter, as what was of primary concern was how Ryde would be affected. The toilets in the Town Hall have already been lost, although the building is still used by IWC for their Social Services department. Had there been more constructive thinking from IWC, the Town Council could have possibly gone into partnership with them to retain the toilets, at least on a temporary basis.

“As more information trickled through during November and December it became clear that many of the services that Ryde depends on for tourism, etc., would be affected: the Waterside Pool, toilets, beach lifeguards, TIC. Then there were concerns that Ryde Library would go, along with local care provision, Youth Services, Wightbus, etc. Added to this were the challenges presented by the two new projects that had just been passed to the Town Council by the Isle of Wight Council – the management of the town’s 5 allotment sites and the skatepark. These would need funding and would stretch staff already busy with other local projects.

“The Town Council agreed to defer setting its precept in order to ask the residents whether they felt that there was a need to continue to provide any services that were cut and to explore how these could be provided and funded. A range of views were received - the vast majority who attended the town meeting in January felt that the Town Council should step in and that the precept should be raised, although some felt strongly that this would be double taxation.

“The range of views expressed by residents made the final setting of the precept extremely challenging – but at a Special Meeting at the end of February the Town Council agreed to an overall increase in precept of 58.04% per household [that’s less than two gallons of petrol a year for Band D] and set aside the following contingency budgets:

Waterside Pool £30,000

BeachSafety £25,000

Binstead Toilets £5,000

“Also set aside were budgets of £25,000 for office accommodation and an extra £15,000 for new staff to help with its new responsibilities. At present the staff, especially with regard to home-working, are not being given the support they deserve, or indeed are entitled to.

“The most significant challenges for the Council and for the town still lie ahead. Over the past year the coalition government in Westminster has indicated its desire to empower local communities in all areas of decision making through the Big Society and Localism agenda. The Localism Bill currently making its way through Parliament makes it clear that parish and town councils are seen as key planks for this new agenda. The proposed devolution of planning decisions alone will be a massive challenge for the Town Council.

“On a - literally - brighter note, the Town Council now has its own regalia; it is a privilege to be able to wear this magnificent chain, a tribute to Menna Morey, who crafted it, and especially to Jeff Please, who donated it.”

The Mayor ended his Report by thanking all the town councillors for their hard work during the past year, as well as the long-suffering staff, especially the two clerks, who had coped admirably with his sense of humour since last June!

April Town Council meetings and dates for your diary

Full Council7pm 4 April Garfield Road Methodist Church Hall

Planning Committee 7pm 5 AprilGeorge Street Centre

Planning Committee 7pm18 AprilGeorge Street Centre

All meetings are open to the public; agendas are available in Ryde Helpcentre or from the Town Council’s website at

Correction

Last month’s newsletter should have made it clear that the new Rotunda in the Victoria Arcade in Union Street was a Historic Ryde Society project and the photograph should have been credited to Roy Brinton.