Lack of support for anti-bullying course

JUST weeks after a senior councillor was suspended for breaching the code of conduct, a dignity at work training course for councillors has been cancelled because not enough signed up.

The workshop was due to take place on Thursday, January 28, and was designed to raise awareness of the council policy covering bullying and harassment and what was appropriate behaviour. But the two-hour course at County Hall was cancelled when only eight councillors signed up.

£400,000 funding gap if Hospital parking charges go

PATIENTS and visitors at St Mary’s Hospital are paying more than £400,000 in car parking fees, it has been revealed.

The Isle of Wight NHS Primary Care Trust earns £416,000 annually from the controversial charges, which range from £1.20 for two hours to £6 for 24 hours, with concessions for long-term patients and parents who need to stay with their children. But the days of hospital car parking charges could be numbered, following the publication of a consultation document by the Department of Health. It outlines several options for the future, including the possibility of free car parks.

Snow puts our Isle of Wight in the red

The cost of keeping the Island moving through the heaviest snowfall in 30 years is likely to reach £200,000. Around £175,000 has already been spent on gritting alone by the Isle of Wight Council, which has come under fire for the state of pavements.

The council said it was too early to put a figure on the overall economic impact of the snow and ice. As the big freeze became the big thaw this week, shops too were assessing the impact of lost trade. The IW Chamber of Commerce, Tourism and Industry said many showed resilience by staying open and working round the clock to fulfil orders.

Military Road – act now or lose it

ABANDONING the Military Road is one of the options to be considered by leading lsle of Wight councillors in March. Moving it inland will also be under discussion.

The County Press understands other alternatives are  being drawn up by highway bosses for councillors’ consideration, and no decision will be taken without consultation with bodies such as the AONB Partnership, Department of the Environment Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA), Natural England, the National Trust and the Environment Agency.

IW Council Tells Everyone That iWight Website Did Well. But Did It?

It’s with more than a little surprise that VentnorBlog received a press release from the Isle of Wight council a couple of days ago saying how well their iWight Website did during the ups and down of the snow disruption.

The common reaction we had heard was the exact opposite – that when people wanted to know what was going on with school or road closures, the iWight site couldn’t cope, and they were met with blank pages, rather than the information they needed to see.

Last Council Leader Was Pushed Out – Shocking

They say that it emerged the previous leader of the Isle of Wight council, Andy Sutton, was forced to quit, rather than step down as the council said at the time.

It was this action that enabled the fresh-faced Cllr Pugh to take the position as The Leader of Isle of Wight Council. This all links to a number of councillors who were referred to the Standards Board over the passing of a planning application by Cllr Anne Bishop back in September 2007.

Isle of Wight behind on GCSEs

GCSE students on the Island are still lagging behind their national counterparts.

Figures show 41.6 per cent of Island students achieved five or more GCSEs at grades A* to C, including English and maths, compared to 41.3 per cent last year and 50.7 per cent nationally.

Of local education authority-run schools, Carisbrooke High was top performer, with 51 per cent of students reaching the benchmark standard.

Cllr Susan Scoccia Council Allowance Set To Triple

There’s a full council meeting at the Isle of Wight Council tonight. One of the subjects under discussion is the Special Responsibility Allowances (SRA) that are paid to county councillors if they chair some of the committees.

The SRA is paid on top of the Basic Allowance of £7,903 that all councillors receive. If the vote goes in favour of the proposal Ventnor’s own fragrant member for the Ventnor West, Cllr Susan Scoccia, will be a few quid better off. Bundles of it in fact. She is currently the chair of the Licensing and General Purposes Committee. It’s proposed that her yearly allowance rocket from £1,977 per year to £6,322. An eye-watering multiple of over 316%!

Normally Have A Tuesday Rubbish Collection? Wait Another Week

Yesterday Island Waste were saying that all collections would be one day late this week, meaning Monday’s rubbish got collected yesterday and Tuesday’s collection would have been taking place today.

We now hear that from today onwards, rubbish will be collected on its normal day. This means that all households who normally gets their rubbish collected on a Tuesday and have put their rubbish out on the street, will have to try and stuff the several bags of rubbish back into their bins for yet another week. By the time it does get collected, it will be three weeks of rubbish.

Jill Wareham Calls For Snow Inquiry

We’re all too well aware of the impact the heavy snow and ice had on the Island last week, with many concerns voiced over the preventative measures taken by the Isle of Wight Council.

Liberal Democrat Prospective MP for the Isle of Wight, Jill Wareham, tells us today that she will be calling for an inquiry at County Hall. “I eventually ventured out to Newport in my car on Friday, three days after the first snow fell, and was amazed to see that the pavements in the main town on the Island had not been cleared and people were walking along very gingerly.