dates for your diary

Second Tuesday of every month (except August) 2pm – 4pm – Bembridge Belles

Women’s Institute meet at Bembridge Village Hall, High Street, Bembridge. Entertainment, refreshments and get to meet local women. You are welcome to come along to three meetings free of charge to see if you enjoy it. Please call 07856 248340 if you’d like to know more or just come along to a meeting!

Friday 3rd – Sunday 5th March – Charlotte

Hodge Thomas Art Exhibition at 24 Walls Road, Bembridge, PO35 5RD, from 11am – 5pm. Charlotte’s first solo exhibition of 2023 at her home studio in Bembridge. New paintings, prints and art cards. Come and browse artwork to Spring refresh your home interior, or give as special gifts for Mothering Sunday, Birthdays and Anniversaries.

Saturday 4th March - Friendship Coffee morning at Bembridge Village Hall from 10am – 12 noon. Come and meet others for coffee/tea and good company. Various stalls. Also 150 draw money goes to help Community Bus. There is a community bus that will pick people up from their homes and return if needed.

Saturday 4th March – Craft Fayre at Brading Youth & Community Centre, High Street from 10am – 2pm. Free parking at rear. Refreshments available from the old school café.

Sunday 5th March – Preloved Indoor Market at Binstead Community Centre, from 1pm – 2.30pm. Preloved sale for everything you need from pregnancy to 5 yrs. Clothes, equipment, toys, books and more. Free entry for buyers.

Monday 6th March - Isle of Wight Family History Society open meeting. The history of tuberculosis on the Isle of Wight – talk by Dr Paul Bingham at Arreton Community Hall, Main Road, Arreton. Doors open 2pm talk starts 2:15pm. Members of the Isle of Wight FHS £1; non-members £2. Everyone welcome.

Sunday 12th March - Charity Antiques and Collectors Fair (in support of the MNDA) at Northwood House, Cowes from 10am – 4pm. Visitors can expect to find a great variety of local antique and collectable traders in the function rooms of Northwood House. Refreshments, tea, cakes and sandwiches available all through the day for exhibitors and visitors. Admission is £3 per adult or £5.00 per couple on the gate, with accompanied children free.

Saturday 25th & Sunday 26th March - The Island Car Centre Sandown Sprint will return to Culver Parade. The Sandown Sprint will involve 100 cars competing on a specially constructed circuit, at Sandown’s Culver Parade, with the start in Fort Street and finishing in Yaverland. Once again, overall spectator numbers will be limited, so motor racing fans are advised to book early. The cost of admission has been held at £10 per adult, with concessions. Further details on the Sandown Sprint and tickets for the event can be found via the website isleofwightspeedtrials.co.uk joe.robertson@iow.gov.uk

All event information was correct at time of print but could be subject to change at any time.

By the time you read this report the Isle of Wight Council will have voted on its 2023/24 Budget. We have already seen the proposals put forward by the Alliance Group who run the Council which includes £22 million of savings. Some of those savings needed to be made regardless of the tough economic climate we currently face. For example, removal of the Deputy Chief Executive role (currently vacant) saving £150,000 and removal of some other roles. The previous Deputy Chief Executive was appointed Chief Executive at the beginning of the year and had been doing both roles in the interim for most of 2022 which demonstrated there is no need for two roles.

While the tough economic climate has meant savings needed to go further than previously planned, the Council’s finances have been made considerably worse by what I believe is wasteful spending. In the last 12 months the Council overspent on its 2022/23 Budget by £8 million. The Council has begun a £1.3 million upgrade of lighting, windows and heating at County Hall notwithstanding the building remains half empty with many staff working from home post-Covid. £250,000 was given in sponsorship money to the Tour of Britain event organisers. The event was cancelled by the organisers and the Council have not asked for a single penny back or gained an assurance that the event will be staged on the Island in 2023 with the money rolling over.

There appear to be no plans to replace the floating bridge which requires a separate push boat in order to operate. The push boat has become a permanent additional feature at the cost of £90,000 a year. The service is loss making, costing the Council money to run whereas the old floating bridge was profitable.

Looking more locally, I have been working with the Council’s drains officer to try and make improvements to flooding issues in key areas identified in the s19 Flood Report published last year. We have met on a number of occasions, together with the Chair of Bembridge Parish Council, to look at Station Road and Lane End. We hope that a proposal will be put to the Parish Council for improvements to both locations and work can start. We will be looking at other areas in the Village in due course.

I have also met with Island Roads to discuss the poor surface of Howgate Road and the middle section of the High Street. Disappointingly they say neither roads or sections of road meet their threshold for resurfacing according to their scanner based points system but they have agreed to fill potholes within 28 days.