Our thanks to Evelyn for this report from last night’s Ventnor Town Council meeting. Ed
Janneke and Philip Oxley began the meeting by giving a presentation on their work to provide the annual Isle of Arts Festival programme.
There were very few of the public present, considering this was the place to learn about the budget and the setting of the Precept, but the Councillors were all present and gave them their full attention.
Budget discussion
The budget discussion followed, emphasising the concerns that had been expressed at the meeting of 13th January and well discussed at the Community Consultation on 27th January.
These concerns came mainly from the IOW Council’s decision that it could no longer fund many of the discretionary services that are vital to Ventnor.
Councillor Leigh Geddes spoke of the “hard times that were upon us,” and warned that “we need to look after our local services.”
“There is no rescue coming from central government or the IOW Council,” she went on, “so we do need to raise the precept to make sure we can look after our town over the next few years and preserve and enhance our local services.”
“Serious risks not yet identified”
There were several other comments including Councillor Tony Marvin, again with a warning of “serious risks not yet identified.”
“At the National level,” he said “there is talk of limiting the power of town/parish councils to set whatever precept they find necessary. These are current identified risks. We do not know what will be added to this list in future.”
All Councillors voted in favour of the budget as set out but there were clear concerns for the future.
Budget papers are embedded below for your convenience
Other business
Salisbury Gardens. Decision not yet settled.
Some concern had been raised by Upper Ventnor Community Association regarding the potential impact of the Island Free School in their area.
The council will invite representatives of the Free School to the next Ventnor Town Council meeting on 10th March at 7pm.
All reports from this meeting are on VTC website.
Image: Images of Money under CC BY 2.0
