We always welcome a Letter to the Editor to share with our readers. This one from Chale resident Mike Starke regarding the issues surrounding the Riverside Centre in Newport. Ed
A picture tells a thousand words, and this is no exception.
It is the logo on the 1988 foundation stone of the Riverside Centre, Newport. It is right alongside the entrance for all to see.
This simple relief quite clearly indicates the purpose of the building; to bring able-bodied and disabled people together under one roof.
At odds with the view of council leader and chief executive
Hardly Cllr David Pugh’s stated view of the centre “… once again (sic) becoming a building predominantly for the benefit of those with a disability.”
Hardly consistent, also, with Isle of Wight Council chief executive Steve Beynon’s self-appointed booking clerk duties that aim to ban all but the disabled from using the premises.
Indeed, a glance at far fewer than a thousand words on the subject from official sources would seem to endorse the image of the logo and contradict the Pugh/Beynon mythology.
2010 press release confirms dual use
A joint press release by County Hall and the Riverside in May 2010, in which Mr Beynon is quoted, states: “A commitment has been made to revise the lease to reflect current circumstances and the multi-use of the centre.” (my italics). Then there is a council report of 16 June 2003, which says an extension “…would enable the centre to expand its capacity as the Island’s principal social firm to provide increased opportunities and physical space for disabled and non-disabled people to participate in new activities…” (My italics again).
But the real clincher is this: “The Riverside Centre provides an (sic) range of services for disabled and non-disabled people.” The source? Why, none other than the council’s current Website page on the subject.
Plans afoot to counter outcry?
In the light of the council’s ludicrous stance and the wave of public revulsion it has provoked, I imagine council spin-doctor-in-chief Mr Beynon and his acolytes, must be desperately trying to get stooges to try to counter the outpouring of genuine shock at County Hall’s meddling in the Riverside’s vital future.
Instead, I suggest they should concentrate their efforts on answering the heartfelt concerns of Islanders, who can clearly detect a hidden agenda in all these shenanigans.
Yes or no answers please
To make it easy, simple yes or no answers to the following would suffice:
1. Is there any intention, now or in the future, to house any council operations in the Riverside Centre premises?
2. Does the council endorse the Riverside trustees’ decision to lease office space to the Island MP and thereby increase the centre’s revenue by £10,000 per annum?
Oh, and 3. needing a bit more than yes or no, I admit: Where on earth do they get the fantasy that the centre was ever meant to be a ghetto for the disabled?
