This latest update from the East Cowes Community Organisers in relation to the Cowes floating bridge. Ed
After many conversations, the Council is making good progress involving floating bridge users and other stakeholders as proper ‘scrutinisers’ of Floating Bridge 6 and Medina crossing.
The Council wasn’t properly investigating the floating bridge, and what little it was doing was too ‘internal’, so community stakeholders felt it necessary to go to the Local Government Ombudsman. Since the complaint was lodged several months ago, the Council now has begun to involve stakeholders and appropriate external perspectives directly in the investigations.
Council finally taking appropriate action
Cameron Palin said,
“We stakeholders are pleased that, since we lodged the formal complaint with the Local Government Ombudsman, we believe that the Council has taken many of the needed actions that we wanted and were necessary to ensure proper scrutiny of the floating bridge.
“As such, we believe that the LGO didn’t really need to investigate further – at this stage – especially if it unnecessarily costs the Council more money and officers’ time. After speaking with the LGO, we’re thankful that the LGO has agreed with us that it would be a redundant exercise at this juncture, because the Council is finally taking appropriate action.
“The act of submitting the formal complaints accomplished what we wanted – the start of a proper investigation by the Council that is transparent and thorough, and includes the people who use the floating bridge.
“Of course, there is still much work still to be done to make sure that any floating bridge is what the people need to make it useful and used – frequent, reliable, and safe, operates long uninterrupted days and nights, and allows the river traffic to move at all tides. Hopefully now we have the right people involved in all of the reviews of floating bridge, including the people who are most affected by the bridge.”
Scrutiny of the design and procurement
In addition to Price Waterhouse Cooper doing an initial audit of the Floating Bridge’s design and procurement, some of the Council’s good efforts to scrutinise the Floating Bridge more robustly in the last couple of months include the new involvement of the Scrutiny Committee (councillors who are not leading the Council) and the creation of the Stakeholders’ Review Group and Cabinet Review Group.
Very importantly, as stakeholders were not consulted properly during the initial design process, now the Council is recognising and involving directly a newly formed Stakeholders’ Review Group, hands-on with the reviews.
What is the Floating Bridge Stakeholders’ Review Group?
The Floating Bridge Stakeholders’ Review Group (FBSRG) is comprised of local residents, shop owners, boat owners, and other people affected by the floating bridge’s operation.
Among other responsibilities, the Stakeholders’ Review Group will be submitting documents to the Cabinet Review Group, to Scrutiny Committee, and publicly, including through the press.
Taking more pressure off officers
The Floating Bridge Stakeholders’ Review Group also will be taking more pressure off from the officers by giving all stakeholders a voice and constructive means to channel their questions and energy into a way to scrutinise Floating Bridge 6 officially and influence the short-, medium-, and long-term options for the Medina crossing.
The FBSRG currently is being chaired by two professional engineers and a professional project manager of large-scale engineering contracts, all local residents with no affiliation with the Council.
Join the group
Anyone is welcome to join the group and be an active member, which currently boasts membership solely selected by Cowes and East Cowes community organisers; the Council is not involved in the recruitment of membership.
To join the Stakeholders’ Review Group, please email [email protected]
What the Stakeholder Review Group is doing now
Currently, the Stakeholder Review Group is researching and investigating, among other issues:
- What next if Floating Bridge 6 won’t work, a.k.a. “Plan B” – In addition to what went wrong in the past with the floating bridge, we need to make certain that we figure out the future of the floating bridge now, especially if this floating bridge won’t work frequently, reliably, etc.
We have been developing all possible courses of action and what outlining in detail the benefits, consequences and knock-on effect there would be for each possibility, including attempts to quantify short- and long-term financial and economic impacts (‘if this, then what happens’). Therefore, the Council and public can make the most informed decisions transparently and with the correct risk assessment. - What the Floating Bridge must have, a.k.a. the “Scope of Requirements” – On any major project, essential requirements and desired features have to be defined separately. Unfortunately, this appears not to have happened, and some of the alleged requirements actually conflict with one another. For example, one of the potentially conflicting requirements was ‘passenger accommodation to be single-sided with interior seating and upper deck seating’ which conflicts with at least two other requirements – ‘increased crossings per day’ and ‘improved passenger accommodation’.
Stakeholders weren’t consulted on this, and many would prefer two single decker holds that empty quickly and safely to ensure a quicker turn around…. There needs to be a more realistic assessment of what a floating bridge service must do, and a complete review of the written requirements. In the end, it must be frequent, reliable, safe, etc. as anything less not only means that it won’t serve its purpose, but it also could end up not only no longer making a profit but also costing the Council and the local towns. - Act now a.k.a. “Short-term solutions and the current launch service” – We know that the current situation is having a detrimental impact on shop owners, cleaners, carers, Southern Vectis, Waitrose, and a host of others. The launch service is not helping enough particularly with the traffic in Newport – one of the most important reasons to have a floating bridge, and one of the required outcomes of the Solent Local Enterprise Partnership, the largest funder of Floating Bridge 6. There needs to be an urgent review of short-term solutions now as well as looking at the future.
- Making sure that decisions are being made using the correct information a.k.a. Fact checking – There has been conflicting information about alleged facts, even between different official Council documents. Whilst some of these may be ironed out in due course, there are a few that need immediate clarification so that other decisions are made on mathematical precision. The Stakeholders Review Group, working with members such as the former floating bridge manager 2000-2016, are seeking definitive answers.
Image: © With kind permission of Allan Marsh
