Cllr Phil Jordan, Ryde Town Council’s (RTC) Chair of Finance, has accused another councillor for bringing RTC into disrepute by publicly spreading false information about the actions of the council.
Cllr Les Kirkby is accused of making recent public statements about the council’s spending – namely that the council has spent £500,000 on Ryde Marina [Harbour], and will be spending £40,000 on St John’s Wood.
Both pieces of information, among others that are also being disputed, were contained in the election leaflet for Tommy Booth, one of the two candidates in the Ryde North West by-election.
Jordan: Mistruths are bad enough at election times, but lies are simply unacceptable
Cllr Jordan has expressed his deep concern that the election leaflet is spreading “lies and mistruths”.
He said,
“I am furious with the contents of the leaflet circulated to Ward residents by the Conservative candidate, Mr Booth, which is completely misleading and in certain aspects, a downright lie.
“Mr Booth seems to think that Ryde Town Council is a business which must only undertake schemes and projects that produce revenue. His inexperience demonstrates his total lack of understanding of what Councils do and what their purpose is in providing services to the local community.
“I cannot allow the residents of Ryde North West to be completely misled by lies and mistruths that Mr Booth is peddling which affect the reputation of the Town Council in a very negative way and seeks to undermine the good work and improvements they have made to the community of Ryde over the past few years.
“Mistruths are bad enough at election times, but lies are simply unacceptable.”
Kirkby: “I’m not going to pushed around”
News OnTheWight spoke with Cllr Kirkby this afternoon. He stuck by his claims that £500,000 would be spent on the Marine and raised other issues about finance within the RTC.
In response to Cllr Jordan’s accusations that he’d brought the council into disrepute, Cllr Kirkby told us,
“If he thinks I’ve brought the council into disrepute best of luck to him because quite truthfully I’m not going to pushed around.
“He can say what he likes about me, I don’t care, because I’m not going to stand down.”
St John’s Wood is not being
News OnTheWight has seen confirmation from Ryde Town Council’s Responsible Financial Officer (RFO) that although there is a line in 2022/23 budget for £40,000 allocated against plans to purchase St John’s Wood – to date this has not been spent.
Tommy Booth’s leaflet claims the money has been spent.
There is no intention to spend this money as RTC are no longer pursuing the purchase of the woods and have not been for quite some time.
St Thomas’s Church
Tommy Booth’s leaflet also stated:
St Thomas’s Church, £285,000 borrowed. Annual costs £25,000. Zero revenue.
News OnTheWight has seen confirmation from the RFO that the building has already received around £43,424 in grant funding, with a further £600,000 of grants notified for 2023/24 for the building and the youth service.
Cllr Jordan added,
“That is not zero revenue. Another lie. The whole project to re-house the Youth Service from the rented High Street premises to the Church are, in broad terms, cost neutral.”
The move could save money
It also appears that moving the Youth Service (Network Ryde) into St Thomas’s Church could actually save RTC money each year.
The cost of the loan to purchase the building and remodel its interior will cost the council £12,200 each year to service.
Whereas, as Cllr Jordan confirmed to News OnTheWight,
“The current Rent and Business Rates (excluding all other rented property costs such as utilities, insurance, security etc – which total around £25,000 by the way) at the High Street rented premises are £15,260 pa – around £3,000 more than the loan cost to buy St Thomas’s.”
Supported by the Conservative Association
Mr Booth’s entry on the Statement of Persons Nominated does not have a political party attached to it, but his agent is Steve Sheridan, chair of the Ryde branch of Isle of Wight Conservative Association, as well as IWCA treasurer.
The leaflet is printed by the Isle of Wight Conservative Association, but uses only the acronym, IWCA, which many residents will not recognise as being the Isle of Wight Conservative Association.
Booth: Happy for voters to make up their own minds
News OnTheWight asked Mr Sheridan how Tommy Booth has reacted to the information on his leaflet being described as lies and mistruths?
Mr Sheridan replied,
“Tommy is happy for voters to make up their own minds as to whom is speaking the truth on these matters but is delighted to have brought these figures to the public’s attention, most of which are from Ryde Town Council’s budget report.”
Cllr Jordan, the Chair of the Finance Committee at RTC, added,
“Perhaps Mr Sheridan is getting confused with what a budget is for, and does, and what the Council actually do?”
The other candidate
The other candidate contesting the seat is Diana Conyers, who describes herself as ‘independent’.
Cllr Jordan says,
“I have no issues with the leaflet distributed by Diana Conyers.”
