OnTheWight always welcomes a Letter to the Editor to share with our readers – unsurprisingly they don’t always reflect the views of this publication. If you have something you’d like to share, get in touch and of course, your considered comments are welcome below.
This from Ieuan Jehu in response to the draft Island Planning Strategy. Ed
Any planning strategy must first and foremost recognise the importance of health and social care to our Island.
Health and Social Care is by far and away the largest employment sector on the Isle of Wight and, with an ageing population, the importance of the sector to our economy is only set to grow.
Rising cost of care provision
With the continued absence of a plan for funding adult social care from the Tory government, along with an increasing requirement for Councils to be self funding, our council needs to present a planning strategy which illustrates how they intend to enable residents to afford the increasing council tax fees necessitated by the rising cost of care provision and absence of central government funding.
Within the very tight budgetary restrictions placed upon our council by the most centralised government outside of the Korean Peninsula, there is the ability for our council to alleviate some of the financial pressures put upon Islanders by our increasing council tax charges.
Council-run companies
Although councils taking direct control of local services is strongly discouraged, they are permitted to establish companies, owned and managed by the council, which can bid for council contracts like any other private company.
The Isle of Wight council should, therefore, establish a number of companies to provide our local services – ensuring that our council tax payments are spent on services, not handed out as profits to private investors.
Provision of Adult Social Care
Creating a council owned company for the provision of Adult Social Care would allow all of the money currently going into the pockets of private companies’ shareholders, to instead give a pay rise to carers.
Giving a pay rise to all of the workers in the largest employment sector on the Island would have a knock-on positive effect for Island businesses as there would be an increase in people’s disposable incomes.
A local energy company
The council should also establish a local energy company; utilising the Island’s geography to deliver locally generated green electricity to Islanders at cost price.
Again taking profits from private companies and putting money back in Islanders’ pockets.
Council-owned transport company
A council-owned transport company could take one foot passenger crossing and one of the car ferries into local public ownership (my preference would be to two crossings which link up with the national rail network: Yarmouth and Ryde).
Although this would rely on national government to facilitate the forced purchase of these services.
Affordable rental housing for Islanders
The final and most important thing I would suggest the Isle of Wight council do to reduce living costs for Islanders is to invest heavily in providing affordable housing to rent for Islanders.
There has been a lot of talk about building affordable homes for Islanders to buy but the current definition of “Affordable Housing” just isn’t affordable to many of us.
Average prices 9.5x average income
On the Island average house prices are 9.5 x the average income, nationally it’s 6.5x the average income. Selling homes 20 per cent below the market value isn’t going to make them affordable to Islanders.
The rental situation on the Island isn’t much better, with average rents absorbing 32 per cent of the average income and properties being increasingly difficult to find as the pandemic has made holiday lets a far more lucrative option for landlords.
Meet the definition of affordable property
So, if the council could force the property developers and private landlords to meet the definition of affordable property to buy or let, it still wouldn’t be of much help to Islanders on low incomes who are struggling to find accommodation.
The only realistic way of providing truly affordable housing for Islanders is to invest in publicly owned property for rent – council housing.
Council tax spending
On average, across the country, revenue collected through council tax accounts for 54 per cent of council spending.
Here on the Island though, with our low number of rateable businesses and high percentage of people reliant on council services, this year 69 per cent of what the council spends will have been collected in council tax payments.
A career in care must be rewarding, respected and desirable
Geographic restrictions will prevent the Island from ever becoming a centre of business or industry (even if that were desirable). We can attract new money to the area though, by capitalising on our beautiful environment and making the Isle of Wight an even more desirable place to retire.
That can only be sustainable if we make a career in care rewarding, respected and desirable with a wage sufficient to cover the cost of living.
The Isle of Wight council can do that with the right Planning Strategy.
Image: Javier Allegue Barros under CC BY 2.0
