VentnorBlog asked the Isle of Wight council nine straight-forward questions last week about the proposed sale of Blackgang Viewpoint Car Park.
They’ve refused to answer them.
It feels very wrong that the council is actively blocking the media from getting answers to valid questions that are of concern to many people on the Island.
We’re got full details about it below, and at the bottom of this article there’s a link where you can register your objection.
Background
Following the widespread concern of the Island’s public last week when VentnorBlog discovered that the list of publicly-owned buildings and land the council manage on the Island’s behalf which they are actively considering selling was growing even longer, we put some reasonable questions to the Isle of Wight council about the proposed sale of the Blackgang Viewpoint Car Park.
Council press office say no
The response we got from the press office disappointed us. They refused to answer VB‘s legitimate questions. Questions that many want answered.
A council spokesperson said “As outlined in the statement sent to Ventnor Blog this morning, council members will, in due course, decide if the proposed disposal of the Blackgang viewpoint car park should go ahead. The points raised in your follow up response will be among those discussed by members at next week’s Overview and Scrutiny Committee which is the correct platform for discussions, not through the media. Therefore we will not be adding anything further other than is in the statement.”
While some might judge this as reasonable – and it’s understood that on the first look it might appear like that – what it actually does is undermine the freedom of the media of the Island to ask questions.
Why not answer them?
It begs the questions – What possible harm could come from the public knowing this information in advance of the meeting? Why shouldn’t the Members that read VB not learn of the answers to these questions in advance – surely it’s better to know, rather than not. Why should the public who are concerned about this have to wait?
Asking the Chief Exec
We wrote to council chief exec Steve Beynon as it felt that his press office had ‘gone rogue’, after all, why would a council that professes it is ‘Transparent’ act in this obviously-over-controlling way?
We wrote:
I’m not sure if you’ve seen this Steve, so I’m bringing it to your attention.
It’s deeply wrong that the council should shut itself down to legitimate press enquiries.
There’s a lot of public anger about this, so blocking answers legitimate questions is foolhardy.
Will you ask them to drop these attempt to block answers?
Here’s his response:
I am sorry you are interpreting our response in this way. We have advertised the proposal and it will be debated at next week’s scrutiny panel meeting. It is appropriate that members have the opportunity to explore this proposal in public at their meeting through scrutiny.
Whilst you are raising a number of questions it is for members of the public to ask scrutiny panel to look at their concerns. However, it is not appropriate to play this out in advance of the meeting.
I, therefore, fully support the responses you have had thus far. We are not blocking answers just fiollowing due process.
Closing down public discussion
As with all attempts to close down public discussion, this raises many more questions than it answers.
Yes, it is appropriate for the Members to explore this, and many on the Island hope they will, but on a panel that is 6 to 4 controlled by the party in charge at County Hall, past experience has shown that the outcome will be in support of the ruling party – despite the best efforts of those Independents on the panel.
Why not answer the questions?
What if concerned members of the public can’t make it along to a 5pm meeting at County Hall? Why should the 15-minutes of public question time be used up asking questions that the council could be answering in advance? What makes the council believe that they shouldn’t be accountable to be media?
We’ve been in touch with people who work for other councils around the UK and their reaction has been that this is a clear attempt to block, or ‘act with lead feet’ – ie, to try and slow the process down.
It’s not up to the council to decide which questions should and shouldn’t be asked – to attempt to do that attacks the very freedom of the press.
Act, if you don’t like press restrictions
If you’re happy with a press that doesn’t question what is going on – do nothing, but if a balanced press on the Isle of Wight is important to you, write your note to Steve Beynon below and tell him.
Image: lovelornpoets under a CC BY 2.0 license
