We’re not quite sure what’s going on here.
Last night, Cllr Steve Stubbings read out an email from Isle of Wight senior officer, John Metcalf, to the assembled throngs at the Keep Island Line in Franchise (KILF) meeting at Shanklin Theatre.
He stated that meetings had been held, over a period of time, with Department for Transport (DfT) and they had told the council that Island Line would be kept in the Franchise.
This was followed up this morning by a press release from the council confirming what was said the previous evening.
All change
This afternoon the Department for Transport – which IWC said had told them Island Line would be in the Franchise – issued a statement saying, “no decisions have yet been made about the inclusion of the Island Line in the next South West Trains franchise”, adding, “to suggest otherwise is inaccurate and misleading”.
What?
Quite what has changed from what the council were convinced they’d been told – if indeed anything has been changed – is, as yet, unknown.
Cllr Stubbings appears to have a theory. He told the CP,
“I think there have been frantic phone calls from the MP’s office.
“I don’t think Mr Metcalfe would make it up. It was expressly made clear to John Metcalfe in that meeting by the DfT Island Line would be included in the bidding documentation for that franchise. The government said it was not removing Island Line from the tender. I don’t think you can be any clearer than that.”
The statement
The full statement from the Department for Transport reads,
A DfT spokesperson said: “As we have repeatedly made clear, no decisions have yet been made about the inclusion of the Island Line in the next South West Trains franchise, and to suggest otherwise is inaccurate and misleading.
“We are working closely with our local partners to look at the best way forward in order to ensure the maximum benefits to the local community, passengers, businesses and visitors to the Island. We will not make any decisions without taking local views into account.”
Image: EalingJeff under CC BY 2.0
