Isle of Wight Council is asking for residents for their views on the council’s budget and council tax for the coming year.
The online survey is open till 26 January.
The survey is rather limited but it would still be helpful to get as many responses as possible.
Comments or suggestions can be emailed to budget@iow.gov.uk which may provide a better way for residents to get their views across in detail.
The following is from an Isle of Wight Council press release…
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Recycling, waste and garden subscription collections are changing for two weeks over Christmas and the New Year period.
All waste, recycling and garden waste collections for the Christmas week beginning Tuesday 26 December will run one day later than usual, apart from Monday collections on Christmas Day which will be collected on Saturday 23 December.
New Year’s week will see collections run one day later than usual.
| Usually collected | Will be Collected on |
| Monday 25 December (Bank Holiday) | Saturday 23 December |
| Tuesday 26 December (Bank Holiday) | Wednesday 27 December |
| Wednesday 27 December | Thursday 28 December |
| Thursday 28 December | Friday 29 December |
| Friday 29 December | Saturday 30 December |
| Monday 1 January 2024 (Bank Holiday) | Tuesday 2 January 2024 |
| Tuesday 2 January | Wednesday 3 January |
| Wednesday 3 January | Thursday 4 January |
| Thursday 4 January | Friday 5 January |
| Friday 5 January | Saturday 6 January |
Collections will return to normal from Monday 8 January 2024.
In addition, no bulky waste or free reuse collections will be made on Monday 25 December, Tuesday 26 December and Monday 1 January 2024.
Polystyrene collection
We will collect excess polystyrene from households on general (black bin/black reusable sack) waste collection days from Monday 18 December 2023 until Friday 12 January 2024.
If you have extra polystyrene packaging that won’t fit in your black bin or sack, just place it within a clear or white plastic bag next to your black bin/black gull sack on your collection day.
It must be in a clear or white sack so that the collection crews can easily identify it. The clear bag must only hold polystyrene, or it won’t be collected. Any excess general waste or black sacks left to the side of your bin or gull sack will not be collected.
After 12 January, please remember that as polystyrene is not currently recyclable it must be placed in your black bin/black reusable sack or taken to Lynnbottom or Afton Marsh Household Waste Recycling Centre and placed in the general rubbish skip.
Cardboard waste
If you have lots of cardboard waste, please bundle up and place it separately to the side of your recycling bin/sack on your recycling week collection.
Batteries
Batteries thrown into ordinary bins/sacks, household waste or with other recycling are dangerous.
Large batteries such as laptop/phone/power tool batteries and car batteries or items where the batteries cannot be removed should be taken to your nearest Household Waste Recycling Centre.
Real Christmas tree collection
If you have an active Garden Waste Subscription, you can also dispose of real Christmas trees as part of the service. The tree should be clear of all decorations and pots and can be left to the side of your garden bin on your collection day between Monday 1 January and Friday 12 January 2024.
Household Waste and Recycling Centres (HWRCs)
Lynnbottom and Afton Marsh Household Waste and Recycling Centres will be closed on Christmas Day. Other than this, normal opening hours apply.
Book your visit in advance or choose a same day booking by visiting the Isle of Wight Council’s website or by calling (01983) 823777.
The following is adapted from an Isle of Wight Council press release…
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Residents are being asked to complete a short survey about their feelings around community safety on the Island.
The online study has been launched by the Isle of Wight Community Safety Partnership (CSP) and seeks views from everyone living and working on the Island.
It can be completed online. The survey closes on Friday 12 January.
The Isle of Wight Community Safety Partnership brings together several organisations working together to tackle, prevent and reduce crime and anti-social behaviour and the survey results will be used to help to focus the partnership’s strategy for the coming year.
People living and working on the Island can get involved in the Community Safety Partnership in a number of ways.
This ranges from completing the survey to volunteering their time for one of the agencies in the partnership such as joining the Special Constabulary or becoming part of the Independent Advisory Group (IAG). There’s information about these opportunities on the Hampshire and Isle of Wight Constabulary website.
The following is adapted from an Isle of Wight Council press release…
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An investigation into the severe flooding across many parts of the Island has been launched by the Isle of Wight Council. The deadline for responses is Friday, 22 December 2023.
Flooding from Storm Babet and Storm Ciaran in October and November led to blocked roads and submerged properties after the Island was hit by spells of torrential rain.
The council has now started an investigation to better understand the causes and any factors that may have influenced the severity of the flooding. The work is being carried out under the requirements of the Flood and Water Management Act 2010.
The first part of this work is collecting evidence from residents, businesses and private bodies with flood management responsibilities affected by or involved in the response to the flooding.
Residents affected by the flooding during Storm Babet and Storm Ciaran are encouraged to fill in the flood investigation form on the council’s website where more information can also be found.
Any relevant supporting evidence, such as photographs, records of emergency service attendance and insurance claims, can be sent to s19investigations@jbaconsulting.com
Residents who have already applied for flood recovery grants do not need to complete the forms as their information and evidence has already been processed.
On the 16th November 2023, I backed a motion put forward by my Lib Dem colleague, Cllr Michael Lilley, to Isle of Wight Full Council to support the WASPI campaign to get justice for women born in the 1950s.
The IW Council unanimously supported the motion.
Cllr Jordan, Leader of the IW Council is writing to DWP and Bob Seely MP, requesting this social injustice is resolved as outlined by Ombudsman.
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Text of Cllr Michael Lilley’s proposal speech …
Solent Women Against State Pension Inequality (WASPI) is part of the national and international WASPI Campaign. They approached me to submit this motion.
They represent WASPI women in the Solent area, including Isle of Wight, and some of the Isle of Wight members are in the gallery. I am speaking on their behalf. There are over 11,000 plus women born in the 1950s and they are the group of residents faced with the reality of this injustice. They have been campaigning for State Pension justice since 2015.
In 2016, IW Council was one of the first Council’s to pass a motion supporting this campaign for justice and it was proposed by Cllr Geoff Brodie. Seven years on, they are still fighting to be heard by the Government and fighting for fair treatment. It is a sad fact that our residents along with all women across the UK are still awaiting for justice, so it is right and proper IW Council revisits this issue and reconfirms its support. We cannot allow this injustice to be brushed under the carpet.
All of us here will be related to a woman who was born in the 1950s. All of us will speak to a woman daily that was born in the 1950s. They are not invisible they are real and need our support.
As part of their campaigning strategy, many of them lodged complaints of Maladministration against the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP). In July 2021, they were vindicated by a Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman (PHSO) finding that Maladministration had occurred in the way the DWP failed to inform them they would have to wait up to a further 6 years for their State Pension. The Ombudsman encouraged the Government to be proactive in resolving this issue, but still they wait.
Since our campaign started in 2015, more than 248,000 1950s-born women have died without seeing justice. Nationally, one WASPI woman dies every thirteen minutes waiting for compensation. That is shocking, sad, and totally avoidable.
Solent Waspi and IW women including residents in my ward have given numerous examples of hardship endured by local WASPI women struggling to cope with thousands of pounds shortfall in expected State Pension payments. They recall the woman in poor health with anguish etched on her face as she wondered how she would cope with another 6 years in her physically demanding cleaning job. Another, widowed in her early fifties, had expected to retire at 60. She planned accordingly, thinking she would be able to just about manage. Forced to downsize, she had to return to work in a care home to make ends meet. She had not anticipated the current Cost of Living Crisis, which has brought new fear and anxiety. One of the Waspi women suffered severe mental health consequences after finding out by chance that she would have to wait another 6 years for her State Pension. All her retirement plans were ruined, and she had to adjust to a very different future from the one she had anticipated. Another was living on Universal Credit and could not afford the bus fare to one of the local events. She explained the humiliation of having to comply with the UC requirement to keep applying for jobs that she knew – as a woman in her mid-sixties nearing pension age – she had no chance of getting. She said the constant rejections were soul-destroying.
Added to individual examples like these are the impacts on our local community in the loss of skills available to the voluntary sector and support to families through informal care arrangements (older relatives and grandchildren). The value to this Island of our generation’s contribution in unpaid work is enormous. Moreover, there is an established link between poverty and ill-health which has serious consequences for primary care and hospital services, including here on the Isle of Wight.
All this is against a backdrop of a Gender Pensions Gap that the Government predicts will not close until 2040, at the earliest. It is a gap created by unequal pay and private pension opportunities. These were just two of the obstacles to a financially secure retirement we have faced throughout their working lives. And it is a gap evidenced by far more women than men relying on the State Pension for their retirement income.
I urge you to support this motion and stand with Island women, our wives, our sisters, our mothers, our grandmothers, our great grandmothers, our friends who were born the 1950s and experienced proven injustice and discrimination.
The following is adapted from an Isle of Wight Council press release…
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If you’re feeling stressed out with the cost of the festive season coming up, support is available across the Island to help.
The Christmas Holiday Activities and Food scheme is back this year.
It’s for children who receive free school meals, although there are also some paid for places available.
Discover lots of different activities for all ages including teens. Everyone who goes along gets a nutritious meal during the day.
There’s also a network of more than 50 Warm Welcome Spaces, that offer warmth, friendship and other support. Each Warm Welcome Space is different, you can find one near you on the Isle of Wight Council’s website.
Community pantries and larders supported by the UK Government’s Household Support Fund are there for everyone. You don’t need to be on benefits to go along. Become a member and for £5 a week you can top up your weekly shop with groceries worth at least £15. Find out more on the connect4communities website.
For information about keeping warm, claiming benefits and more see the Isle of Wight Council’s cost of living pages.
And, to give you an extra helping hand with your Christmas shopping we’ve got a prize draw running. You could be in with a chance to win one of five £50 supermarket vouchers.
Supported by our free Multiply maths courses, just answer five maths questions and be in with a chance to win! The competition is live and closes on Monday 4 December. Get full terms and conditions and enter the prize draw online.
The following is adapted from an Isle of Wight Council press release…
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To celebrate Small Business Saturday on 2nd December, the Isle of Wight Council is offering free parking in its long stay car parks and spotlighting Island businesses that act as co-working spokes to the Innovation Wight programme hub, Building 41.
Free parking will be in place from 12pm to 6pm on Saturday, 2 December, in all off street long-stay car parks.
Innovation Wight offers a comprehensive support programme designed to enhance the resilience and productivity of businesses on the Isle of Wight. It operates on a ‘Hub and Spokes’ model, with Building 41 as the central hub providing co-working (hot desking), event, and meeting spaces along with a collection of small office suites. All within a single building in Northwood.
The Building 41 central hub is complemented by outreach centres known as spokes in Ryde (Monkton Arts), Ventnor (The Ventnor Exchange), and Freshwater (The Little Boat). This set up provides widespread access to co-working spaces, business support programmes, and networking opportunities for the Island business community.
There are various options to use the spaces to ensure maximum flexibility; monthly co-working packages for regular use, day passes for occasional use, independent spoke usage, and meeting rooms only. Co-workers have access to a desk, super-fast Wi-Fi, and free tea and coffee.
The planning application for 203 homes at Acorn Farm is open again for public consultation after a readvertisement.
This is due to revised plans being submitted and more information being provided about highways.
The public consultation on the plans closes on 15 December 2023.
The following is adapted from an Isle of Wight Council press release…
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The Isle of Wight Council is set to receive more than £13.6 million in Levelling Up money from the government.
It will be used to enhance travel between Ryde and Yarmouth by improving cycling, walking and bus routes while also making accessibility improvements.
The announcement follows a successful bid by the council to transform connectivity between East and West Wight with an improved active and sustainable travel corridor — or ‘Island Green Link’ for short!
The proposals include:
Ryde – Yarmouth Public Transport Corridor
The plans include improvements to bus infrastructure along the key bus routes between Ryde and Yarmouth. This could include providing accessibility ramps, shelters, and real time information screens.
It will also involve a small number of trial ‘mobility hubs’ to provide space and facilities for switching easily between difficult modes of transport. This could include luggage lockers and hireable e-bikes at bus stops so more visitors and residents can easily enjoy nearby bridleways and cycleways.
West Wight Greenway
Stretching for 13 miles between Freshwater and Newport, the greenway for cyclists and walkers would mainly follow the dismantled railway line and make use of the existing rights of way network.
The route would be designated a ‘linear nature reserve’ and feature stopping areas and interpretation boards. It would also provide an important link to the Gunville Greenway, improving access to the rest of the Island’s cycle network.
Newport Hub and Spokes Scheme
The proposal includes helping to make Newport centre more easily navigable for walkers and cyclists along with extensions and enhancements to established cycle routes such as the new Mews Lane to Newport Harbour route and Gunville Greenway, as well as small-scale infrastructure improvements.
The following is adapted from an Isle of Wight council press release…
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Every year the council asks residents for their views and ideas on how the Island can recycle more and reduce its waste.
The authority is responsible for the collection, treatment, recycling and disposal of household recyclables and waste on the Island. This is delivered through a contract with its waste provider.
The online consultation runs until midnight on Friday 12 January 2024.
Paper versions are available on request by emailing waste.contract@iow.gov.uk or calling (01983) 823777. Paper copies will also be available at all council-run local libraries.
If filling in a paper copy of this survey, please return by 5pm on Monday, 15 January 2024 to:
Waste Management
County Hall
High Street
Newport
PO30 1UD