We always welcome 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 in from Sarah Turtle from East Cowes.
As part of the East Cowes Regeneration, BBC Inside Out featured the proposed relocation of the Red Funnel ferry terminal and its impact on residents on Dover Road, East Cowes on Monday night. If you missed it, you can watch the programme again on iPlayer. Ed
Those residents that have lived in East Cowes for many years will have seen the loss of many once taken for granted services and not all public. I’ve lived, worked & volunteered in East Cowes for 22 years and commute to the big isle on a regular basis for work.
My first experience of Red funnel had to be almost 30 years ago when I travelled to the Island as a child. I was more excited to be coming over on a boat than I was about the holiday, certainly wouldn’t have got that excitement with a fixed link but that’s another story! We got off the boat and drove to where we were going; a week later we drove back, parked in a ferry terminal that only needed one car park at the time with a ferry to match the size of the cars that filled that car park, boarded the ferry and went home. Our visits to family on the Island were frequent and it finally became my home in 1993.
As an older teenager we spent many hours in Westlands Social Club, as it says on the tin, a social club, a place with sports facilities, bands, pool, snooker, darts and let’s not forget the fabulous HECK discos. I had my 18th birthday party there and spent many weekends meeting family and friends taking part in various community activities and events. I even met my first love there and his family invited me to play darts for the Star ladies team. The Star! Remember that, oh yeah that’s right it’s where the second Red Funnel Car Park is now.
Making way for more cars
As Red Funnel boats became bigger so was the space needed to hold the cars that travelled on them.
Red Funnel flattened The Star around 1996 which can now be seen as a tarmacked holding bay for the travellers who are not to arrive more than 30 minutes before their journey time leaving just enough time to wait but not quite long enough to get out and walk around the town, or they could park in the town and walk around before making their way to the ferry, oh hang on, no they can’t because we don’t have a town car park anymore.
What was the car park is now a walkway between the new Health Centre, David Wilson Home development once the site of Westlands Social Club and Waitrose.
Other casualties
These aren’t the first to go, some older than me may remember the Vic Bars, The Crown which later became The Pizza Oven and arcade, The Trinity Arms, The Ship Ashore and The Ryde Queen.
All of these social institutes in the community lost to housing and the cheap and cheerful chains who whilst offering a place to drink don’t offer the combination of social drinking, tolerance, conviviality and atmosphere you find steeped in the traditions of our local pubs. Whilst we are losing pubs across the county the number of licensed premises has remained steady proving this point.
The White Hart survived
Many pubs close because they lose trade to these cheap chains who encourage binge drinking by selling cheap alcohol in bulk quantities, however the White Hart in East Cowes isn’t one of those pubs, neither was the Star.
So Red Funnel not happy with taking away one local pub now want a second to add to their list.
The residents of Dover Road
Now for the residents and business owners, who don’t want to sell their homes and it’s not just a matter of relocating, where else are you going to find a six bedroom house in East Cowes or business premises that match the size of the White Hart and the facilities it provides.
It’s too late in life for these home and business owners to be taking out new mortgages, why should they have to find themselves in a worse financial position so that Red Funnel can make money. And let’s be clear on this redevelopment, ultimately it is so Red Funnel can make money which in turn strengthens the Island’s tourist economy but it is at the hands of Red Funnel, and I wonder how much extra revenue Red Funnel have promised our local council if this goes ahead?
Compulsory purchase orders?
So what happens if these residents say no? What options are there? A compulsory purchase order could be made by the Isle of Wight Council. A compulsory purchase order (CPO) allows local authority and specific other bodies to obtain land without the consent of the owner if it is considered to be in the public interest and the local authority needs to provide a compelling case in that public interest and not for private gain.
Before they get to this they have to prove that they have exhausted all other options including negotiation and looking at other options of where it can be sited.
Blunder over release of plans
However the fact that they didn’t even let the residents of Dover Road know the plans before they were put up for display in Waitrose says a lot about their communication and negotiating skills. The other thing to remember here is that the Local Authority has to pay the homeowners if they compulsory purchase, including the homeowners legal costs and moving fees in addition to the house price.
Now one would assume that Red Funnel would be compensating the local authority for this and getting some sort of return for the time and input into this process.
What type of development?
So let’s move on to the development and the choices. Those that attended the event had two options. Would you prefer A – a marine led development adjoining the waterfront or B – a mixed use waterfront development. So in other words would you like to see Red Funnel gain control of the waterfront or would you like to see Red Funnel gain control of the waterfront and some extra housing and bars.
There was no option for neither and the results released on the County Press website have reflected that 67 percent of survey responders were in favour of a mixed use over just a Red Funnel use; well that’s a no brainer!
The report then goes on to say that 13 percent didn’t like the location and 12 percent weren’t sure. These people I would hazard a guess at saying that they either don’t live in East Cowes and know the area it would affect or they know the area but aren’t sure whether it’s the way forward.
Problems with parking
If applied to the over 19 East Cowes population that’s around 800 residents of East Cowes that aren’t in favour of its location. I will also add that there are no plans to put in parking; all allocated parking in the plans is for the hotel, new housing and the marshalling yard.
A new multipurpose facility will be built to house the red funnel sales office with a café and decking area where you can wait for your ferry whilst your cars are parked in the marshalling yard. Why would these people waiting want to go anywhere else in the town when they can’t stop for long in the yard and all the facilities are provided there for them? It’s not really generating income in the town, so who is going to fund the new bars, are residents suddenly going to start going and drinking every night?
The crucial role of pubs
So what would you do if it was your home or your place of employment? Buried deep in the planning document PPG3 is the encouragement for local authorities to make compulsory purchases to make way for regeneration projects, is a marshalling yard classed as a regeneration project?
Yet on the other hand, ministers announced this year that the law is changing to give local pubs that play a crucial role in the hearts of our communities’ greater protection stopping valued community pubs being converted against the will of local people.
Once-in-a-generation opportunity
The East Cowes Regeneration project is a once-in-a-generation opportunity according to the East Cowes Regeneration Website set up between the Isle of Wight Council, East Cowes Town Council, Red Funnel and the Homes & Communities Agency.
I believe this wholeheartedly, however the way that these businesses have treated those that this will have the most impact on has been heartless and cowardly with Kevin George CEO of Red Funnel refusing to speak to one resident of Dover Road at the consultation when approached.
At a time when the council are cutting local services and people are feeling more cut off from their community than ever before, are shops, hotels and a marina our answer to stopping this? As a resident of East Cowes how is this Red Funnel Development going to improve your life and what would you do if it was your home?
