At last Wednesday’s public meeting where the Ventnor Town Council (VTC) presented their reasoning for temporarily closing the Winter Gardens venue, concerned members of the public spent two hours asking questions of the councillors.
As it was a long meeting, we did our best to take as comprehensive notes as possible, but apologies for any gaps.
It was clear that all those taking part in the meeting held a great passion and strong emotions for the venue, but the atmosphere was not a pleasant one. Members of the public heckled and jeered as councillors attempted to answer questions and the meeting was called to an end around 9.30pm, after many of the 400+ members of the public started leaving.
The floor was opened with a member of Winter Gardens staff, Natasha Miller asking “If we’re losing our jobs, why aren’t you losing yours?”.
Ventnor Mayor, Debby Robinson explained that the councillors were not employed, but volunteers who gave their time freely to support the town.
What about better transport links?
Musician and business owner, Rich Baker was up next, making some valid points about the problem of public transport to and from the venue.
He suggested that VTC negotiate a subsidised route with Southern Vectis with late night buses servicing those coming from Freshwater, Newport, Cowes and Ryde.
This was met with applause by the audience.
It was agreed by Cllr Stubbings that public transport was a problem for many.
Councillors not planning to personally take over running of the WG
One member of audience asked the VTC to confirm or deny whether any councillors were planning to take over the Winter Gardens.
After some confusion about what was being asked, each member of the VTC confirmed they have no intention of taking over the running of WG or have ever expressed any interest in doing so.
This rumour has been circulating around Ventnor for sometime, so many were pleased to hear from the ‘horse’s mouth’ that it is totally unfounded.
Merge services to keep the WG open
Peter Stockman from Shanklin Theatre urged the VTC to fight the corner of the WG with the Isle of Wight council (IWC) and to follow what has happened in Shanklin with their theatre.
Councillors responded that they had been fighting, having been in talks with the IWC for many months trying to find a way to save the venue from closure.
John Whitehouse from the Rotary Club pointed out that closure of the WG was just part of a bigger problem, with the library, toilets, Botanic Garden and loss of beach lifeguards also on the cards due to budget cuts being imposed by the IWC. He asked whether the VTC would consider combining facilities in order to save them and urged the VTC to allow the public to put forward ideas to retain the community hub.
Alan Philpot acknowledged that the building had never been financially successful, but felt it was an important community meeting place, questioning where in Ventnor the meeting (accommodating 400+ people) could have been held if the WG was not open.
Why no grant application?
It was mentioned many times during the meeting that the VTC should apply for grants to maintain and repair the building.
Cllr David George told the audience that he’d approached the IWC regarding £46million of grants that were available in 2009. He reported to have had replies from two councillors, but nothing materialised.
Mrs Soames expressed concern that there would be nowhere for summer visitors to the town to do, if there was bad weather.
Winning bids would not based on the highest bid
A representative from the Ventnor Theatre Group asked whether the bids for the WG would be based on keeping the venue open or if it would go to the highest bidder (ie. a property developer).
It was confirmed that all bids to take on running the WG would be considered jointly by the VTC and IWC.
The winning bidder would be the ‘preferred bidder’, not based on the highest amount of cash offered, but the bid that was best for the venue and town. It was also confirmed that a condition of lease was that the WG should remain as an entertainment venue.
Valerie Giblin stated that she’d been to many gigs at the WG such as Midge Ure, Elvis Tribute, The Gathering etc which were packed. She felt that the Mayor was ‘dissing the place’ by saying that people didn’t want to come into the WG. The Mayor explained that visitors to the town that she’d spoken to in the summer had made comments such as “Why would I want to go in there?” and it was not her ‘dissing it’.
John Salisbury from the Ventnor Film Society challenged Cllr George’s claim that no-one had contacted him about the WG, stating that he’d be in touch the day after the closure announcement. He asked what models had been looked at for the mixed usage of the building.
Cllr Bonney responded that they VTC needed to hear from the town what their needs for the venue as a community centre were.
Where has all the money gone?
Former Ventnor town councillor, Maureen Cawley questioned where all £319k had been spent in the last 20 months. She claimed it had not been spent on the building.
Town clerk, David Bartlett explained that as one example of where money was being spent, £7,000 had been used to replace the lighting rig which had been deemed highly dangerous. He went on to say that the VTC had been effectively insolvent for five of the last ten years.
He went on to praise the 17 staff that they VTC took on when the former concessionaire Graham Perks left in 2009.
Questions were asked as to how the IWC were spending £4m on County Hall but nothing on the WG.
“Keen to hear from former councillors”
Andrew from the Ventnor Theatre Group told the council that he’d been using the WG since 1993. He felt there had been poor management of the venue since 1994 and was keen to hear from former councillors as to “why they’d wasted so much money”.
He also asked why it was the foyer was apparently repainted (at an expense to the WG) because the VTC didn’t like the colour used and finished by asking what happens if there are no expressions of interest to take on the WG.
Cllr Rees said that problem should have been dealt with in 2003 when it was highlighted by the District Auditor. He went on to say that the IWC had made their minds up on all cuts and that they “should hold their heads in shame”.
Disgusted at lack of IWC members present at meeting
Brian from the Ventnor Lions asked what guarantee the VTC could give that the IWC wouldn’t ‘asset strip’ the site. He also said he was disgusted there were no senior members of the IWC at the meeting to hear the resident’s concerns.
Bobbie from the VTG asked why the VTC didn’t have volunteers to run the WG. Someone else claimed that the bar was busiest when run by Graham Perks and asked why after he left, the concession wasn’t re-advertised.
Cllr Bonney replied that Mr Perks left the concession, with a deficit of £31,000 on the rent over the period (due to rent discounts) and leaving costs of £14,000.
Mr Perks later told the meeting that the discounts were all agreed by the Winter Gardens Committee and that the £14,000 was payment for a full stocked bar and all the fixtures and fittings he installed.
He said people should be more worried about the lack of shows and no money being spent on the building.
Why kept in the dark?
Former Ventnor East town councillor Brian Lucas requested that the public are consulted more in the future. He felt that the public had been kept in the dark over the financial situation and should have been told what was going on a lot earlier.
Cllr Gilly Jenner responded, reiterating that the information had taken a long time to gather, as there wasn’t much of a paper trail on the running costs of the venue. She went on to say that David Bartlett had spent considerable time piecing together the information and that the VTC were as much in the dark as the public. She finished by saying that a great deal had been done to try to save the venue under the VTC’s responsibility, but that they needed to also consider the forthcoming costs associated with taking on lifeguards, toilets, library etc.
Why haven’t you made yourselves known to us?
Paul (?) from the audience said that he felt all nine councillors were responding very defensively to questions and that this meeting should have happened before they’d made their decision to step away from responsibility for the venue.
He went on to say that he knew only two councillors and questioned why the others hadn’t made themselves known to the public.
The Mayor replied that all members of the public are welcome to attend the monthly VTC meetings which are widely advertised locally.
Volunteers could’ve got grants
Former volunteer, Sandra Fraser, stated that the volunteers had been “thrown out by the VTC” and that they could’ve helped by getting grants for the venue. The claim that the volunteers were thrown out was disputed by the VTC.
Former Ventnor town councillor, Val Taylor, asked what the balance of the VTC bank account was and whether the VTC would be telling the public that they’d received an advance on next year’s precept in order to fund the redundancies.
Cllr Rees replied that the VTC bank account currently stood at £20,000 and that it was already reported in the press that the redundancy would be funded by an advance on the precept.
Mrs Taylor went onto complain that she’d requested to look at the financial accounts and audit returns but had been denied.
Selling off the family jewels
Sarah (?) asked whether the VTC would be selling off the family jewels.
There was initially some confusion about whether the contents of the building would be put up for sale. It was then stated by the VTC that the IWC wanted the building to be emptied by the end of the month as it would be advertised as such. This caused great concern amongst the audience with community groups, who appealed to the VTC to have the decision reversed.
Cllr Stubbings has stated since the meeting, that the VTC will be asking the IWC for all contents relevant to the entertainment venue to remain in place during the tendering process.
Look to the future
Bob Ventress asked for everyone to look to the future and trust that the councillors were acting on the best interests of the town.
He suggested that the bids be presented to the public and not carried out behind closed doors. This attracted substantial applause from the audience.
Another member of the public questioned whether the site was a ‘Red Zone’ (ie. no development permitted). He claimed that he thought it wasn’t and questioned whether that was why the IWC was keen to sell it off.
It was mentioned many times during the meeting that the building was subject to subsidence and any replacement structure would need to be light-weight.
As the meeting was coming to a close, Jane Goodlet asked how much it had cost to have Audit and H&S Reports produced. It was answered that there was no cost to the VTC for the production of the reports, which had revealed serious problems at the venue, as well as within the former town council.
The meeting was called to an end as people started to leave.
