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Julia Baker-Smith

Julia Baker-Smith is the Isle of Wight county councillor for Whippingham and Osborne.

She was elected in 2013 and became Executive member for Planning and Housing in January 2016.

In January 2017, Cllr Baker-Smith was elected as Leader of the Group of Island Independent councillors.

In May 2018 Julia joined the Labour Party in and in April 2019 stepped down.

Below are some articles that feature Cllr Baker-Smith.

16, February 2017·2 min read

‘Con-UKIP budget to ‘blow’ ASDA Windfall’ say opposition councillors

Opposition councillors say the Conservative-UKIP plans for the ASDA money are "an insult to hard working Islanders who are having their Council Tax put up while paying for running machines and new desks".

19, July 2017·1 min read

Floating Bridge saga included in Isle of Wight full council meeting

Meetings will now only be held every two months, and although this agenda is fairly light, questions from the public on the subject of the floating bridge are expected.

16, January 2017·3 min read

Kendall resigns too: ‘Not prepared to do government’s dirty work for them’ (Updated)

Hot on the heels of the resignations of the Leader and Deputy Leader of the Isle of Wight council and the Executive resignations of Cllrs Jordan and Stephens, another Independent councillor has stepped down from the Executive.

14, March 2016·1 min read

All welcome to grand opening of Parkside Pavilion

The Pavilion Community Centre in East Cowes will officially be re-opened as the 'Parkside Pavilion' at 12 noon on Saturday. All welcome.

30, October 2014·2 min read

Scrutiny Group recommend increase in floating bridge charges

The Scrutiny Committee's Task and Finish Group have been looking into proposals to change charging on Cowes floating bridge. Next week they'll present their recommendations, which include some surprising jumps in charges.

12, July 2018·2 min read

Isle of Wight council spend over £1.5m on agency staff

Between May 2017 and May 2018, the Isle of Wight Council spent £1,526,816 on agency staff across the authority — but particularly within the mental health team, and children’s services.

1, March 2017·2 min read

Concerns raised over process to give Crime Commissioner voting rights on council

Concerns have been raised about the process undertaken to allow the Police and Crime Commissioner to join the Fire Authority, with full voting rights on Fire Service matters

2, December 2015·1 min read

Harcourt Sands gets approval. OnTheWight speaks to the developer

Before voting it through Councillors added an additional affordable housing condition. OnTheWight has spoken to the developer, learning of their development timetable.

18, October 2016·1 min read

Call to make ‘affordable rented housing’ a key priority for the council

The Executive member for planning wants the council to explore options for the formation of a Limited Liability Partnership and a capital investment programme in housing to meet the housing needs of Islanders.

22, October 2015·1 min read

Moves afoot to halt Head of Planning overriding wishes of elected councillors

Local councillors have started to have their long-established right to have planning applications 'called in' for public discussion over-ruled by the Wendy Perera, Head of Planning at the council. Moves are afoot to stop it.

14, February 2018·2 min read

Access to Floating Bridge papers heavily restricted – Even to Scrutiny Members

Members of the Scrutiny Committee ask 'Who runs the council?' after being told they can only view floating bridge documents sat in front of a laptop at County Hall (with an estimated reading time of 30 hours).

21, September 2017·3 min read

Heartfelt story of mother’s choice to feed son or take him to school is ignored

Katie from East Cowes has to decide whether she feeds her child or pays to take him to school. 19 councillors chose to ignore this story and voted against calls for the Cabinet to reconsider their decision.

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