On Monday evening at the Ventnor Annual Town Meeting, ward councillor for Ventnor West, Susan Scoccia read out her annual report. If you were unable to attend the meeting, her report is reproduced here in full. Ed
This year, I have continued in the position of Chair of the Licensing and General Purposes committee for the Island, a position I find extremely interesting. During the year this committee has considered and determined taxi fares, our licensing policy and licensing fees.
Chaired many sub-committee hearings
I have also chaired numerous sub-committee hearings which have included premises and personal licences, reviews of two licences, school transport appeals, removal of a bridleway from the definitive map, a footpath diversion, a village green and our first gambling licence application, which I think gives a flavour of the diversity of considerations that come before us.
Tomorrow (Tuesday 16th May) I will be hearing the premises licence application for the IW Festival.
Continued member of Planning Committee
I continue as a member of the Planning Committee, which meets monthly, and for which we have regular monthly training sessions to ensure we are kept up to date with changing legislation and all aspects of this very important function.
Along with Audit and Ethical Standards Committees, Full Council and Licensing, I have attended over 60 meetings during the year, which does not include informal meetings and briefings.
Have attended many information seminars
Members’ information seminars are held regularly, and I try to attend as many of them as possible, which have covered such issues as adult social care, PFI, the Island Core Strategy, youth reorganisation, budget planning, regeneration and the economy, to name but a few.
And on the subject of budget planning, I am sure I do not have to spell out just how difficult it was setting this year’s budget and council tax, with savings of £17.8M to find!
Reviewed every aspect of council’s services
With the Coalition’s spending review, not only did we not receive the usual increase to cover inflation, pensions, NI, etc., but the Government also cut our funding by £9.2M.
This meant that we have had to review every aspect of the Council’s services, and I do appreciate that there have had to be some unwelcome reductions in some areas. However, we were able to put an additional £2.2M into adult social care, £0.5M into the budget for LAC and children at risk, whilst maintaining investment into the reorganisation of our schools, the highways PFI scheme which will see our roads brought up to the standard we are all dreaming about over a 25 year period commencing in 2013, and investing in County Hall to ensure the latest business systems and IT technologies will give residents an even better service whilst reducing workforce costs and reducing the number of buildings from which the Council currently works.
Lobbied hard for Ventnor
During the budget process, I lobbied hard for Ventnor, ensuring that our library has been kept within IWC’s core service with only a small reduction in funded opening hours.
I am very pleased that a ‘friends of Ventnor Library’ is progressing well, and I am sure, working with our excellent library staff, ideas will come to bear in respect of increasing usage and support and maybe opening hours in the future.
Money for beach safety
It was at my request that an amount of £25K was allocated in the budget to assist the four beaches that had previously had lifeguards to bring forward either volunteers or other beach safety schemes, and I have been assisting the Town Council in this respect.
Strong representations for Ventnor toilets
The closure of some of our toilets went out to consultation at the beginning of the year. Again, I made strong representations in respect of Ventnor Botanic Gardens’ toilets and indeed the Marlborough Road toilets (as many of my residents were obviously concerned about these being closed when they are shopping in town), and these toilets have remained open.
I then worked with an interested party in respect of those in Steephill Cove, who have now taken over these facilities. As I have also received many representations from Bonchurch residents, I have now provided the Town Council with all the financial costings of providing these facilities.
Fostering Panel
I am the Local Authority representative on the Island’s Fostering Panel, which meets monthly and considers various applications in respect of children who cannot remain with their immediate families.
As a member of this panel, I attended a full day’s training, and also the wonderful Star Awards last October, where the achievements of these children is celebrated, and which is a very moving occasion.
Supporting youth initiatives
I remain the LA representative for the Ventnor Youth & Community Centre, where I have been chair of the Management Committee for a number of years. We are still awaiting the outcome of the Youth Reorganisation proposals from IWC, a very frustrating time for all our youth workers, but I am hopeful that these details will be forthcoming very shortly, and we will then know where we are!
Our Youth Centre, together with the Youth Cafe, provide very important facilities for our Ventnor Young People, and, as a Trustee of Ventnor Together who set up and runs the Youth Cafe, I occasionally enjoy an evening volunteering and helping out.
As the LEA Governor on the Board of Governors for St. Francis, it is very pleasing to see how well our primary schools have come together into the one, and this is down to the excellent leadership of the headmistress and her staff.
I attended a visit to the mainland last September when we visited a number of newly built primary schools to give us a flavour in respect of possibilities for our new school build.
Many meetings produced the plans that we now have, which were presented to the Public at Ventnor Middle School on 16th February, and the planning application will be determined at the Planning Committee on 24th May. These are certainly very exciting times for all our pupils, which I found very engaging when I attended a School Council meeting last month where the children were discussing their wish lists for their new school.
As Trustee of St. Catherine’s School, I was pleased to be part of the interviewing panel for a new Principal, and to assist whenever I can in improving links with IWC.
Representing residents
Of course, everything I have reported so far, are details of the committee work I do as a County Councillor. For me, the most important part of my role is to represent my residents and respond to their concerns and problems, which are many and very varied.
It is very satisfying indeed to be able to assist people, which makes all the hard work and long hours worthwhile. What I have learnt as a County Councillor is that you need bucketfuls of patience and eventually you might get there.
St Albans Steps finally reopened
I’m thinking in particular about St. Albans steps which have now reopened after such a long time – the retaining wall has been rebuilt and an excellent job well done by IWC contractors – the graben has been reinforced and improved again with the wall rebuilt, and the piece of Undercliff Drive that is undermined by underground water is being straightened out again.
I was also very pleased indeed when, through Ventnor Community Partnership, we were able to replace the clock on the corner of Pier Street on 25th August last year, something I had wanted to see done for Ventnor for a very long time indeed.
Lastly, I do not hold surgeries as I found them to be an unproductive use of my time, but I am very willing to visit anyone who wishes to discuss anything with me at their convenience, so please do not hesitate to get in contact with me either by telephone or e-mail.
