At last week’s Cowes Town Council meeting, overwhelming dissatisfaction was expressed over the highways PFI contract, which was awarded to Vinci Ringway last year.
The Mayor, Cllr Walters, reported that all assets across the Isle of Wight such as street furniture, bins, benches, streetlamps etc, had been recorded as part of a survey to be included in the highways PFI contract.
He said that that anything that Town and Parish Councils do to enhance their areas over the period of the PFI contract will have cost implications for them, as any item added after the survey was completed, such as a new bench or bin, would attract an additional maintenance cost, which the PFI contractor would calculate for the remainder of the 25 year contract and present to the town or parish council.
Many Cowes town councillors were unhappy to hear this, with Cllr Jones in particular, expressing great concern that the town’s assets were being “given away to a private company for 25 years”.
“Divide and rule”
The Mayor, Cllr Walters went on to say that the approach taken by the Isle of Wight council (IWC) over gathering the views of local councils was that of ‘divide and rule’.
He claimed they’d been picking off councils within Area One to meet with separately, Whippingham, Gurnard, Northwood, Cowes and East Cowes, to discuss road priorities and concerns.
On The Wight contacted the IWC on Monday asking for a member of the PFI team to clarify two queries in relation to the Mayor’s comments, but despite chasing several times for answers to our very simple questions, they have failed to provide a response.
