Since VentnorBlog broke the story back in August 2010 that the Isle of Wight council was considering options for the future of the Ventnor Botanic Garden, members of public from all over the Island and beyond have been concerned as to what will happen to it.
We tried to reflect those concerns in the questions that we put to John over the half our we had with him after he and his wife, Mylene, had made their presentation last week, asking some probing questions about his planned future of the Ventnor Botanic Garden and his background that’s led him to bidding for it.
This is the first detailed interview with John to be published.
Wide range of discussion
Here’s a summary of the subjects we discussed.
- Master plan
- The Gardens as a global brand
- John’s background as a company fixer
- What brought them to the Gardens
- How the CIC will function
- How the Friend’s charity will work with the CIC
- Where the money will come from
- Foundation donors
- The importance of Transparency
- The commercial future of the Garden
- The acceptance of entrance fees
- The future of the Royal Garden Cafe
- What happens to the VBG staff once the takeover happens
Have a listen to it …
