A series of he-said, she-said could be about to begin as the Isle of Wight council refute claims made by the Isle of Wight Bus shelter, following the decision by the charity to wind down.
On Friday afternoon the Bus Shelter announced the bus was being shipped off to Norwich and the charity wound down – they claimed it was ” as the council have not allowed us to open again“.
However in response the Isle of Wight council say that’s not true.
An Isle of Wight Council spokesperson told OnTheWight,
“We strongly refute any suggestion the Isle of Wight Council has prevented The Bus Shelter from re-opening.
“On the contrary, the council was willing to continue to support them in their efforts to find a new, suitable location for the shelter.
“We did meet with the charity to discuss locations, however, they then told us they had found a new site and no longer needed council assistance. They have not approached us since.”
Decision to close down to charity not IWC, they say
The spokesperson goes on to say,
“We would have considered using the service once it reopened had we had sufficient assurance that it met appropriate standards of health and safety.
“In the meantime, we have been able to secure an appropriate quality of service from alternative providers with whom we can continue to work with in the future
“We are disappointed the service is going but, to reiterate, the charity has not made any approaches to the council before coming to this conclusion.
“Any decision not to reopen is entirely down to the charity itself and not this local authority.”
