The community right to bid for ownership of Ventnor Winter Gardens has hit a stumbling block.
A right to bid effort as “members of Ventnor” has been rejected after an appeal by the building’s owner, Kevin Sussmilch, of the Hambrough Group.
At a public meeting at Salisbury Gardens on Thursday, 15th January 2026, it was revealed that although a “significant amount of work” has been undertaken to improve the building, there are questions over what could happen to the building in the future.
Owner appealed ACV designation
Councillor Ed Blake, Conservative representative for Ventnor and St Lawrence at County Hall, said an appeal had been made by the owner against the Winter Gardens’ Asset of Community Value (ACV) designation including the right to bid for the building.
Once an asset is listed as having community value, its owner must give interested community groups the opportunity to register an interest in purchasing it should the owner look to dispose of it, according to County Hall’s Community Right to Bid Policy.
Community right to bid has been rejected
Councillor Blake said while the ACV designation remains in place, an appeal against the right to bid was upheld.
He told the meeting,
“This has come from a slight disparity between national guidelines and the Isle of Wight Council’s interpretation of those guidelines.”
The councillor said the community right to bid for the asset as “members of Ventnor” was rejected.
It was also revealed that the Winter Gardens Steering Group still do not know if Mr Sussmilch is willing to sell, or what his plans are for the building.
Need to know what is planned for building
In a closing statement, Steve Witheyman of the steering group, said,
“We have met three or four times and we have had a couple of interested parties who said they might be interested in taking it (Winter Gardens) over but they need to know more from Kevin – what does he want?
“They’re not going to put anything on the table until they know that Kevin is willing to sell – we don’t know whether he is willing to sell – we are between that rock and a hard place.
“If he doesn’t want to sell, what does he want to use the building for?
“Can we encourage him to do something positive for the community and obviously in a commercial sense as well? We’re not asking him to lose money on it.”
Remedial works
In some positive news, council officer Natasha Dix said most of the remedial works set out in an initial Section 215 letter to the Hambrough Group have been completed or are in progress.
She said the letter had been sent on 4th April 2025, because the building looked run down, was harming the area and risking blight. Ms Dix said,
“In response, we have seen a significant amount of work undertaken. In terms of the (remedial actions) list…the majority of the list is complete or underway.”
Completed works
Finished works included cleaning all elevations, replacing glazing, removing advertisements, cleaning iron railings and the balcony on all elevations, as well as clearing scrap from the site and rubbish from forecourts, gardens and the car park.
Those underway include repairing the cracked and defective render on all elevations and repainting all elevations and windowsills.
Outstanding works
Outstanding actions such as repainting painted decorative detailing on all elevations and all external doors, repairing the roof and removing tarpaulin were also mentioned.
Blake: Need to make sure work is done properly
Councillor Blake said,
“It’s good to have a building that is looking better and not causing blight – that’s a start.
“I’m pleased there is work ongoing, obviously it’s not fully complete and we must be fully aware of that and working with the planning enforcement team to make sure that is done properly.”
The Hambrough Group has been contacted for a comment.
This article is from the BBC’s LDRS (Local Democracy Reporter Service) scheme, which News OnTheWight is taking part in. Some alterations and additions may have been made by OnTheWight. Ed
