Wightfibre, who have been working on Ventnor High Street for the last month, looked as though they’d played an April Fool joke on residents. However, it wasn’t a joke at all as the Cabinet member and Wightfibre explain below.
On Thursday night local resident, Daniel Buttery, shared this image on the Ventnor Noticeboard social media group.
It shows that where Wightfibre had been working installing fibre in the road, the recently resurfaced area has been painted with road markings, but only on the section of road that had been dug up.
Surely a joke?
As you can see from Daniel’s image, the result is that it makes the current faint road markings even harder to read.
We imagined that Wightfibre were having a laugh and planned after midday to reveal it was all a joke.
Official word: Not happy
News OnTheWight wrote to the Isle of Wight Council, Island Roads and Wightfibre with a series of questions.
From the responses we’ve had, it looks as though it wasn’t an April Fool, as Cllr Phil Jordan told News OnTheWight,
“We think this is an unfortunate and unsatisfactory situation which requires sorting out quickly.
“To that end, we have agreed with Island Roads that they will attend on site today, Friday 1st April, to complete and finish the road markings to an acceptable standard.
“On a broader note, Island Roads continue to meet and liaise with WightFibre concerning their operational delivery of the Government funded scheme to provide fibre to the property for the majority of homes across the entire Island. I have no doubt this matter will be raised at those meetings to see if we can deliver better outcomes in similar circumstances going forward.”
WightFibre: Not within our permitted works
WightFibre told News OnTheWight,
“WightFibre work in accordance to strict permits issued by Island Roads and is inspected by Island Roads once work is completed.
“Re-painting the whole street sign is unfortunately not within our excavation and or works, we have however forwarded to Island Roads and it is with their maintenance department to see if it would be possible to carry out the resurfacing and painting works under our road closure.”
Island Roads: Site will be cleaned too
A spokesperson for Island Roads told News OnTheWight,
“While WightFibre has met the letter of the regulations covering reinstatement of the highway, we are disappointed they have not repainted more suitable markings after their work.
“As a result, we are sending a lining crew to repaint all the markings in this section. We hope this will be completed today (Friday).
“We will also be ensuring WightFibre adequately cleans the site before the road is re-opened and that any damage that may have been caused as a result of this recent work is made good.”
Article edit
12.05pm 1st Apr 2022 – Comment from Wightfibre added
12.19pm 1st Apr 2022 – Comment from Phil Jordan added
12.41pm 1st Apr 2022 – Comment from Island Roads added
Image: © Daniel Buttery
