It won’t have escaped anyone’s attention that Brexit is a major discussion point in the UK. It’s hourly on the news (especially today!) and all large organisations are having to make plans for the options of changes ahead, or at the very least, evaluate what impact it might have on the organisation.
Given the pivotal role Isle of Wight council (IWC) plays in the running of the Island, it’d seem reasonable to conclude that they might have been doing some analysis of options to reassure Islanders.
[48 days later, the council finally reply, partially.]
IWC’s plans for Brexit
Given this, OnTheWight wrote to the council’s media team on 2 October to find out some detail:
“With Brexit less that six months away, could you let us know what plans IWC has made for Brexit – if none, what the details of the risk evaluation was for not planning. Thanks in advance.”
The response? Zero. Zilch.
Council less open a growing trend
When the Cabinet made a visit to Ventnor for their meeting OnTheWight took the opportunity to chat in person with the head of the council’s press office about the growing trend of the Council become less open. Apologies were received.
We followed up with an email to both them and the team’s email address on the 22 October with:
“This was one of the enquiries I mentioned that had gone unrecognised and unanswered when we chatted at the Winter Gardens.
“20 days without a response now, so really hope you’ll now be able to direct some attention to it again, given the importance of the subject.”
45 days and counting
At time of publishing (45 days later), there’s still been no response from IWC.
The council has had an unfortunate habit of ignoring questions (perhaps they judged as awkward?), in contrast to what the Leader of the Isle of Wight council, Cllr Dave Stewart, repeats about the council being ‘transparent’.
No Brexit plans?
So the conclusion OnTheWight are forced to come to, based on the council’s lack of response, is that, despite Brexit being one of the most significant changes to occur in the UK, Isle of Wight council haven’t got any plans to deal with it – or that they’re hiding them.
Why is the council not taking the opportunity to assure its residents that it’s at least been thinking about any potential impact of Brexit might have on the Island?
48 days later
48 days after OnTheWight first asked, the council has finally responded to the first part of our 2 October questions, confirming that they have indeed carried out no planning for Brexit as yet.
“The council is keeping a close eye on developments and is examining Local Government Association advice regarding the draft Brexit deal. It will then analyse that advice to see if it needs to be implemented on the Island.”
We’re asking again for an answer to the second part of the question: “What are the details of the risk evaluation IWC carried out of not doing any planning for the impact on Brexit?”
Update 19 Nov 2018: Added IWC partial response
Image: londonmatt under CC BY 2.0
