At last night’s full council meeting, Cllr David Pugh, Leader of the Isle of Wight Council, announced a series of proposals for one-off initiatives aimed at tourism-related investment.
Amongst the proposals was investment in beach huts, taking away street furniture and a “Celebrate Isle of Wight” weekend in 2013.
These proposals come after the council closed all Tourist Information Centres on the Island, shut more than 40% of public toilets, stopped paying lifeguards and cancelled the Ryde Interchange.
A number of Councillors called for the proposals to be dropped or changed.
“At the public expense”
Cllr Jonathan Bacon described Cllr Pugh’s proposals as “meeting places for the unemployed, some beach huts at the public expense and a bit of a booze up”. (more to come on that later)
Repair the damage
He called for the money to be spent on trying to repair the damage the council has already done to long standing and valued public services, such as libraries and Tourist Information Centres. Cllr Bacon’s suggestions were denied.
The Island already has numerous festivals and events, including the County Show and the Garlic Festival.
Cllr Ian Stephens said: “Put more money and effort into the County Show rather than the ‘I love Isle of Wight Show’ or whatever it is”.
Defended proposals
The Leader of the Council defended his proposals.
He said: “We only saw recently that the Queen enjoyed Isle of Wight asparagus as part of the Jubilee celebrations and it’s things such as that we want to be using to attract people to the Island”.
The motion was passed with 21 voting in favour, six against and two abstaining.
Cllr Pugh told the council that time will be given to work out the proposals fully.
