Readers may remember back in early 2010, we reported that the Riverside Centre in Newport faced an uncertain future due to a proposed massive rent increase by the Isle of Wight council.
The threat of a rent increase has raised its head again this week, with the IW Council proposing to charge the Charity an annual rent of £100,000.
Update: 14:58 This is nearly twice the rate that the Riverside are currently charged.
Early this morning, VB asked Isle of Wight council about this, but at the time of publishing, they have failed to respond.
Outcry
There was huge public outcry (and a petition launched) that the centre, which is a hub for a huge number of voluntary and charitable organisations, could face closure.
Amidst the cuts placed on other areas across social care, the issue seemed to fade away and everyone thought the centre’s future was safe.
That is until now, Richard Priest from the Riverside Centre told VB today, “I’ve invited stakeholders to come to a meeting next Wednesday (12th) to hear from us what the issues are and to discuss the best way for us to deal with it.”
Stakeholder meeting
A meeting is being held on Wednesday next week (12th at 5.30pm) between the Isle of Wight Council Legal Services Department and stakeholders of the Riverside Centre to share the background to the current situation and the way forward being proposed by the Riverside Centre.
As many already know, the centre was built through fundraising by the Island community. The Riverside Centre Charity tell us that they are “continuing to seek clarification on the proposals and, given the history of the Centre, how the proposals will address the needs of vulnerable users of the Centre, together with the range of community groups supported by the multi-purpose resource.”
Will councillors attend the stakeholder meeting?
We wonder whether Cllr Roger Mazillius, now he is Cabinet member for Adult Social Care, will attend the stakeholder meeting. When we asked him last year why he hadn’t attended the previous stakeholder meeting, he replied,
“I have no interest in commenting to VentnorBlog, which I think is just a rant.”
