Members of the Isle of Wight Cabinet tonight approved officers’ recommendations to grant a 26 year lease to Ventnor Town Council for the former Coastal Visitor Centre.
Under the former Conservative-led council, the property was valued at £400,000 and plans were afoot to sell the asset on the open market.
Tonight the Independent-led council approved the plans to lease the building to Ventnor Town Council (who originally purchased the building in 1945) in order for the asset to remain in the community and working for the community.
Bumpy ride
Despite leader of the Conservative group of councillors, Dave Stewart, reportedly asking the Cabinet to not “steamroller this decision through”, the future of the former Coastal Centre, now referred to as Salisbury Gardens, has been discussed at length.
Former CEO, Steve Beynon, and former leader of the council, David Pugh, proved very tricky to deal with when the Ventnor town council (VTC) approached them with a view to taking on the building.
Enterprise Centre for start-ups
The VTC plan to lease the building for 26 years, house the town council office and Safer Neighbourhoods team there, as well as lease out 12 rooms to start-up businesses to kick start economic regeneration of the town.
At tonight’s Cabinet meeting, leader of the Conservative group of councillors Dave Stewart was reported as saying, “We should consider selling this asset to offset £28m of cuts.”
The Overview and Scrutiny Committee had also called for the decision to be deferred so questions raised by its members could be satisfied the right decision was being made.
We understand contractors have been chosen to start the redevelopment work and the VTC have a grant to cover the planned £160,000 of works needed to bring the building back up to standard.
Source: IWCP on Twitter
