This in from the Friends of Isle of Wight Libraries, in their own words. Ed
It has been brought to our attention that East Cowes Town Council, being led by IW Cllrs Giles and Webster, are planning to use a large part of the Section106 money deposited for the construction of amenities for the people of East Cowes with the IWC by Barratts.
The total sum involved is £500,000 and this has been in the IWC bank account, accumulating interest for some considerable time. We understand the rules governing the use of this money do not permit refurbishment or extension of existing amenities and can only be used for new build projects.
Residents’ suggestions rejected
Every suggestion put forward by the people of East Cowes has been rejected!
This current plan which has had absolutely no involvement of the townspeople is to extend the Town Hall so that it can incorporate the library.
This will involve the demolition of the public toilet block (property of IWC) and replacing it with a new one within the extension, so the IWC get a new toilet for free at the expense of the local residents!
Extension to replace toilet block
As the land on which the toilets sit is the property of the IWC, the new extension will be built on IWC land.
It should also be pointed out that the state of the public toilet block (the only IWC owned one in East Cowes) is deplorable and that this is due entirely to total lack or maintenance by the IW Council over the last six years).
Building maintenance backlog
According to the Audit carried out at the end of 2009/start of 2010, the IW Council had a backlog of building maintenance of £53million!
What a disgrace, they have spent this money on schemes that have come to nothing and have ended up being binned and now we are being expected to pay for their incompetence!
According to the Local Government Act, no Town or Parish Council may run a public library, and no Town or Parish Council may raise the Council Tax precept to pay for any service that is already a statutory requirement for the local authority to run, as these services, including libraries are already paid for in Council Tax.
It would seem that the IW Council and East Cowes Town Council have some form of exemption from the Local Government Act.
East Cowes precept had 21% increase
East Cowes have already (from last April) increased their precept by 21% specifically to fund the running of the East Cowes library as per a public meeting, which they have no legal authority to do. The town council have been led into this action by the IWC who should be aware of the implications of the Local Government Act and should not have allowed this apparent breach of the act.
If this action is approved it will free up the current library/ youth club premises for the IW Council to sell off, as they are trying to do with as many of their assets as possible. The tenants of the upper floors of the building have already been moved out so we must assume that plans for the disposal must already be at an advanced stage.
Make your voices heard on 25th July
As the spending of Section 106 money is dependant on support of the local population, the people of East Cowes have to be consulted – please vote against these plans which are for the good of the IWC and not the town of East Cowes.
If you care about what is happening to our Island, please attend the meeting at East Cowes Town Hall at 6.30pm on the 25th July 2011 to view the plans and to make your comments
