It’s been alleged to On The Wight that the chief at Isle of Wight council, Steve Beynon, has been personally deciding if room bookings at the Riverside Centre should be accepted. Room bookings make a considerable contribution to the running costs of the centre.
We’ve had a number of people contact On The Wight over the previous weeks telling us that Steve Beynon – and latterly, the controversially-paid council finance head, Dave Burbage – is choosing on an individual basis who can make bookings at the venue.
What isn’t clear is why this might be the case. We’ve recently put questions to Steve Beynon, but at the time of publishing, haven’t heard back from him.
Police and Crime Commissioner Hustings refused
IWALC (Isle of Wight Association of Local Councils) attempted to book the recent Police and Crime Commissioner Hustings there, but were refused, leading them to run the event at Sandown Broadway Centre.
We contacted Gill Kennett, who heads IWALC, she told On The Wight, “We don’t understand it. Not only was the PCC meeting refused, but the meeting we are hosting for the Hampshire Association for local councils tomorrow was also refused.”
IWALC: We want to support Riverside
Commenting on why IWALC favoured bookings at Riverside, Gill said, “It’s convenient and has good disabled access. In addition, if we’re going to have to pay to rent a room, we want to support the Riverside Centre in the work that they do for the disabled.”
IWALC are in the process of writing to the council boss to ask what the booking criteria are, so they can clarify the situation.
Help for Heroes event cancelled
On The Wight also understand that a Help for Heroes fund raiser had to be cancelled.
On The Wight too
We, as On The Wight, attempted to make a booking for a room at the end of October, but weren’t allowed to. The Riverside staff told us, “We are not taking new bookings at the moment as we are reviewing use of premises with IWC as landlord. We are happy to take details and come back to you in a few weeks. Existing bookings not affected, apologies we cannot help with your booking on this occasion.”
History of the trouble between council and Riverside
A year ago On The Wight reported on rumblings of difficulties between the council and the Riverside Centre – later proven to be true.
The council attempted to nearly double the Riverside’s rent to £100,000/year in October 2011.
Image: Akira Yamada under CC BY 2.0
