Simon is sending back updates from the Council chamber. Keep refreshing your page for updates.
Public questions
Q: Mrs Wareham – What has the council done to retain jobs at Vestas, given the big impact?
Cllr Brown – I’ve submitted a report to council, with a full page on Vestas. Will be in debate later.
Q: Mr Wortham – leader has warned of lean times, how does this balance with large outputs.
Doubling the cost of business case to £7.5m.
Cllr Giles – PFI is my case. IWC will get nearly £1Bn, so the £7.5m isn’t much. Papers are two months early. Let’s not get side tracked into negativity. We will get money from the gov we’d never have.
Mr Wortham – £7.6m is a lot of money, that other councils have had to spend.
Cllr Pugh – IWC have highlighted the costs in full, over the years ahead. Island 2k – take a few weeks ago.
18:21: With temp officers – this has to happen from time to time.
Number of people have applied for childrens head – hope to make the job award in Sept
Mr Wortham – why no one from inside?
18:23: Cllr pugh – sometimes we don’t have the people with the right skills
Out of time for public questions.
18:30: Cllr Giles on Ferry service. Minimum requirement a good service at a reasonable price
Service reliability, regular
Early morning service is very important
Praise for MP for OFT
OFT have given initial finding – physical barrier to entry. Routes may not be busy enough to enable more competition
MP is now lodging new evidence.
18:33: OFT praises demand management pricing – but there is a difference. Ferries are different to cheap airlines – little downward pressure, due to a lack of competition
I do think that we should support our MP?
Lymington opposition has lead to Wightlink not being able to upgrade their terminal
As a council we shouldn’t let this fester. I’ve asked officers to speak to officers on the mainland
Probs with Fishbourne terminal in summer – huge queues. Wightlink said some of it due to computer booking errors
Cllr Dyer – very pleasing that issue of Lymington is being addressed.
18:38: Some of the probs are – People think Wightlink is an Island company. Disabled access is terrible. Stairwells on new ferries are very steep. Time tabling has been a mess.
Cllr Webster – Can I ask that Red Funnel be mentioned with this too, not just Wightlink. Pressure on local shops.
Cllr Sutton – Some people have broken limbs on the Wightlink ferries. Could I suggest that The Leader and others
I want to celebrate the success the MP is having. Wightlink now breaks down prices and shows times available – due to work by MP
19:06
Cllr Whittam – Could we suggest a system to text people when their ferries are ready.
Cllr Lumley – Support Cllr Giles motion. How can we make sure …
Vice Chair – We have no tracking device to make sure things happen beyond the chamber.
Cllr John Howe – I’d like to support what has been said. I’ve never heard in 40 years of people being turned off a ferry. Foot passengers now are being told to make a booking. It’s ridiculous. The service is getting worse.
Cllr Mazzilius – Ships have been signed off as safe by gov dept, even though they appear dangerous.
Ryan Air, etc work because there’s competition. It’s not strong enough on the Island.
Cllr Barry – it was a shame that the MP didn’t get more support before.
Cllr Fuller – Pleased to congratulate the MP. When knocking on doors, many people were concerned that IWC hadn’t done enough up to now.
Cllr Pugh – we couldn’t help MP before as we went into elections, so couldn’t comment, also top people at Ferry companies changed.
Back to Cllr Giles – I’ll take on board Cllr Lumley’s comments – and will ensure that things are followed through.
Chairman – Red Funnel added too.
Vote – 35 for. None against or abstentions
Geoff Lumley – on Vestas
19:08 : Cllr Lumley – this is the biggest story for the Island and nationally
There’s no doubt that the IWC have bent over backward to keep this company here in many phases.
Planning app for new R+D was rushed through to keep them happy.
UK gov also has done the same.
Protest continues. I’ve endeavoured to speak to cabinet members.
Not sure what the IWC is doing for Vestas employees
Gov have a big pool of money, but we don’t have Assisted area status
IWC doesn’t even try that now.
What about getting the consultant who are costing us £750k year?
I calculate Vestas closing will lose the Island £50m/year
I want the weight of this local authority to get behind helping these people
*applause from gallery*
Chair praising gallery restraint
Cllr John Howe – We need to maintain the workforce on the Island. I support Cllr Lumley 100%
The discussion about having Wind Turbine is different to this. Supporting the industry doesn’t mean we have to use the things.
Cllr Barry – The perception ‘out there’ is that the IWC hasn’t done anything to help Vestas.
In the past we’ve had all party delegations to government – I think we should do this again for Vestas
19:19: The people supporting are providing have a wonderful spirit. There’s no use of us having a wonderful education system if people don’t have jobs.
Cllr George Brown – The first para includes text from the MP. Investment must always be for good business reasons.
We agree it’s a blow. Also agree if the Vestas factory at St Cross stays closed.
The difference is in the ‘how to’ section.
Seeking to enhance rather than disrupt – I’d like to table an expanded enhancement.
2nd para – along the lines of – welcome DECC grant + supports grants with business staying here
3rd para – we’ll pressure government for renewable energy business
4th para – best effort to ensure Vestas St Cross premises are used, preferably with renewable business.
IWC wished to secure development of wind energy tech on IW as part of economic strategy.
Cllr Pugh – This is a realistic and pragmatic approach. This is about looking forward.
*he mentioned something about biz staying here shouldn’t be a caveat*
19:30: Business coming to St Cross site might not be turbine blades
*think he said that the actions of those protesting shouldn’t affect business coming here – so trying to discourage. Not 100 sure.*
Cllr Hollis – Vestas R+D is good. Militant activities are deplored by some of the Vestas employees. It just send the wrong message to businesses.
Cllr Bacon – Cllr Lumley’s orig suggestion was good. The impression I have of the IWC is that everything is about saving money and getting hold of money – not deciding what we should do with it.
19:35: PFI talk mentioned that there could be a road building industry on the Island – but nothing appears to be happening about it.
There need to be more forward thinking. We need to be more creative in our approach.
Cllr Fuller – We have to do everything to support the workers at Vestas. I’m happy with all of the amendments.
Cllr Abraham – I had a relative who was made redundant – it had a huge effect on him. As I see it, IWC have helped Vestas.
Central gov gave them a huge amount of money. I felt that they only came to the UK for the money.
I don’t know what more we can do. I think the die has been cast. I hope that some of the workers who are being made redundant get jobs in R+D.
I might do the same as the workers protesting if I were in the same position
19:42: We need to help people to get the skills and start their own businesses perhaps.
I feel desperately sorry.
Cllr Whittaker: Only four of the R&D jobs are going to the Vestas workers. Perhaps we should back another company to take on the Vestas people and find another location.
Cllr Brown – my background is engineering products. There’s a skilled, motivated work force at Vestas. We’ll do what we can do get businesses here to the park.
We’ll do everything we can to get it working.
Media attention is providing a negative impression of the Island (!)
Working with funding bodies is “almost daily work” for some people in this council.
I’m convinced at all of our objectives are very close.
The Vote – 35 for. None against or abstentions
*a little applause from gallery*
Cllr Lumley – three points: I want to make sure that the council is aware that it’s not red radicals there. It’s a big cross section.
Don’t give up Cllr Abrahams.
We spend a huge amount on the Comms dept. Can’t we communicate to the people of the Island what we’re up to with Vestas?
End the fun for tonight.
