Residents have told the Isle of Wight Council of ‘ongoing disruption’ from roadworks, concerns continuing to go ‘largely unaddressed’ and a lack of prior engagement with affected businesses.
Businesses call for urgent meeting
Transport committee chair, Councillor Julie Jones-Evans, was asked by members of the public Peter and Carole Lambert to commit to facilitating an urgent meeting involving Wootton and Binstead businesses, a senior council officer and Island Roads at Monday’s Extraordinary Full Council meeting (16th March 2026).
The Lamberts’ written question was read out as a major scheme to replace gas mains in and around Binstead Road started this week.
Its preamble said,
“In 2025, SGN closed Park Road in Wootton, causing significant disruption to local businesses, loss of income and a noticeable drop in footfall.
“During this time, businesses reported that signage indicating that they remained open was not clearly displayed, there was no prior consultation or engagement with affected businesses, and there was no clear point of contact to raise concerns or seek assistance.
“Businesses were also not informed about any compensation schemes they might have been eligible for.
“When the works overran their permitted road closure period over a busy bank holiday weekend, there was no one available at the council, Island Roads or SGN for businesses to speak to.
“This year has felt like a repeat of that experience, with ongoing disruption and concerns continuing to go largely unaddressed.”
Further works announced with ‘no prior engagement’
The submission said further works by SGN and Island Roads have more recently been announced in Binstead.
They appear likely to continue intermittently between now and 2027, again “without prior engagement” with affected businesses, the Lamberts said.
Reading out a response from Councillor Jones-Evans, Alliance colleague and council leader Phil Jordan said County Hall “can commit” to contacting SGN to request availability for a meeting discussing the sequencing of the works.
Residents meet with SGN
The Local Democracy Reporting Service (LDRS) understands a residents’ meeting with SGN and Councillor Ian Stephens was held on Monday, with 50 residents in attendance.
A spokesperson for SGN said,
“We’re sorry to hear the concerns of local businesses and we welcome their feedback about our essential network upgrade works in the Binstead Road area.
“Letters informing local residents and businesses were sent in advance of our works starting. We also held a drop in event on Monday, 16th March 2026 Businesses call for urgent meeting
for anyone to discuss our plans; we’re not aware of anyone attending from the business community.“However, we’re aware that the local community has experienced multiple roadworks projects and we understand our work may add to the recent disruptions.
“Our work is ongoing under temporary traffic lights on Binstead Road for a number of months and we appreciate this may result in delays for local traffic.”
Side roads to see reduced impact
They said most of the other work in this project takes place in side roads where the impact for local travel will be ‘significantly reduced’.
Engineers will be working as quickly and as safely as possible to complete the works and once old metal pipes are completely replaced with new plastic ones, local homes and businesses will continue to receive a safe and reliable gas supply for years to come, SGN added.
An Island Roads spokesperson said,
“As a utility company, SGN has a legal right to carry out work on its infrastructure. Our role is to liaise with them to minimise the impact as far as possible.
“We recognise that communication with the community is an essential part of the works and we have distributed hundreds of letters to stakeholders and residents this week about our forthcoming two week project to improve the condition of Binstead Road between Gwydyr Close and Stonepitts Close from 13th April 2026.
“In planning this project, we have liaised with SGN to co-ordinate work by both organisations on the main road under one closure. We have also taken feedback following the first phase of our work in January and liaised with the local Isle of Wight Council member to minimise inconvenience during the forthcoming phase.”
Island Roads open to further meetings
The highways service provider added that while it has already liaised with SGN over their forthcoming work, it would be happy to attend any further meeting that would help them complete their work with the ‘minimum possible impact’ on the community.
This article is from the BBC’s LDRS (Local Democracy Reporter Service) scheme, which News OnTheWight is taking part in. Some alterations and additions may have been made by OnTheWight. Ed
