Twizy on the road

Following Isle of Wight Twizy Hire closure – Where did the £36k grant go?

Following the closure of Isle of Wight Twizy business OnTheWight reported on Friday, questions were raised about the grant money that had been granted to the business.

“Preferred provider”
In total, the business was given £36,000 in 2015/16. An amount matched by the business which had been selected as the “preferred provider”.

The money came to Isle of Wight council via the Department for Transport’s Local Sustainable Transport Fund, LSTF.

What we don’t know
OnTheWight requested further details of the terms of the money being granted and today learnt some of the details.

It’s currently still unclear what the grant was for – installation of the electrical charging points around the Island, or perhaps the actual Twizy vehicles themselves, or perhaps something else. We’re awaiting a response to our further questions.

What we do know
What we do know is that the money had to be spent by 31 March 2016 and that the project had to be delivered within a year, with “legacy elements”.

Isle of Wight council say they are content that these conditions were met.

IWC tell OnTheWight that there are “15 publicly accessible electric vehicle charging points across the Isle of Wight, which will remain and continue to be available to the public, should the owners of the locations wish them to be.”