Isle
of Wight Councillors Report, April 2014.
Paul
Fuller
Independent
Isle of Wight Councillor
for
Cowes West and Gurnard
Home:
74 Wyatts Lane, Cowes, Isle of Wight. PO31 8QA.
Telephone:
01983 289595 (24hrs)/ 07 935 090 835 (mobile/ text)
Surgeries:
4:30-5pm,
Tuesday 1st April, Cowes
Library, Beckford Road, Cowes
5:30-6pm, Tuesday 1st April, Sports Bar, Isle of Wight
Community Club, Park Road, Cowes.
6-6:30pm, Thursday 10th April, The Woodvale, Princes
Esplanade, Gurnard.
4-6pm, Tuesday 15th April, Sports Bar, IW Community Club, Park Road, Cowes. (PLACE ROAD- PLANNING APP.)
1-1:30pm, Wednesday 23rd April, The Little Gloster, Marsh Road, Gurnard.
3-3:30pm, Wednesday 30th
April, Cowes Enterprise College, Crossfield Avenue, Cowes.
4:30-5pm, Tuesday 6th May, Cowes Library, Beckford Road, Cowes
5:30-6pm, Tuesday 6th May, Sports Bar, Isle of Wight
Community Club, Park Road, Cowes.
Place Road: Revised Application
received, for 90 Homes.
A
revision to last year’s proposals to develop on land between Place Road and
Tuttons Hill is due to be advertised on Friday 4th April. Residents who commented on the original set
of plans (to develop 99 homes), have already been notified. Last year’s application, to date received 279
comments (mainly in opposition) to proposals.
On
receiving further details, I hope to hold another surgery.
This
is likely to take place from 4-6pm,
Tuesday 15th April, at the IW Community Club, Park Road, Cowes. A letter-drop to those living nearby, will
take place prior to the event.
The formal
consultation will take place until Friday
25th April.
Coastal Path, Gurnard.
I
continue to receive calls from residents, disappointed by the closure of the
footpath linking Gurnard and Thorness.
Rights
Of Way have advised that what remains of footpath CS16 is beyond restoration or
repair and the bridge constructed to protect the path from erosion has been
undermined.
I
have requested that landowners are again approached to see whether there
remains an opportunity to divert the path to land south of the chalets. However, I understand following last years
offer being rejected this option may no longer be available.
Until
a solution can be found, the formal access to the coastal path is only possible
via Rew Street and Sticelett.
Coastal Protection: Residents, Drop-In.
I
am holding a drop-in session for residents who have questions concerning
coastal protection issues, following storm damage this winter. This follows a number of concerns raised by
residents affected by winter storms
The
meeting will take place next month at the Little Gloster, Marsh Road, Gurnard.
This will be confirmed in next month’s report.
Officers
will be available to offer advice on safeguards that residents can take and
Grant Funding that is available.
In
the meantime, I remain ever grateful to Ben Cooke from the Little Gloster for
his support on this event.
Meetings: Full Council.
Councillor
Ian Ward was re-elected to serve a second term as Chairman of the Isle of Wight
Council, whilst Cllr. Ian Stephens remains as Leader.
The
Executive Committee largely mirrors the Cabinet which were appointed by Cllr.
Stephens last year, with Deputy Leader, Cllr Stubbings also taking
responsibility for Adult Services.
(Cllr. Gordon Kendall will take on Human Resources etc.)
Full
Council agreed to adopt the hybrid committee system, which will enable all
political groups help formulate policy through Advisory Committees. This is something, which has been missing
from the IW Council for many years and will offer an opportunity for all 40
Councillors to take ownership of the Authority, and provide an opening for
dialogue between business people, stakeholders, the wider community and the IW
Council.
Members
are in the process of being appointed to Committees. I’ve expressed an interest
in joining the Environment & Public Protection Advisory Committee and
Employment & Tourism Advisory Committee.
By not being a member of Scrutiny will allow me to focus on setting
Policy and attending Full Meetings of Cowes Town Council.
I’ve
also been appointed as Chairman of the Planning Committee, and hope to continue
as a member of Licencing and Appeals Sub-Committees.
Meetings: Planning
Matters.
I
attended a Training Session which was established to train Planning Committee
members on the ‘Legal and Policy Context’ for decision making. These are
underpinned by Governments priorities with respect to Growth and Economic
Recovery, Meeting Needs (especially through the creation of Affordable
Housing), understanding of Realities
(developer viability and motivation) and Infrastructure issues…(!)
Members
were advised that there was a prospect of Council’s having New Homes Bonus
withdrawn, should a developer have an appeal overturned by a Planning
Inspector. There are also policies being
formulated by Government to pump prime the availability of new Affordable
Housing…
At
Planning Committee members voted against Officers Recommendation for a new
Premier Inn at Lake, over design concerns and agreed to defer a decision on
another hotel at Newclose, Shide following concerns being expressed by members regarding
access.
Under
delegated decision, I supported a number of applications. One of which, was to upgrade the Royal York
Hotel, Ryde.
Meetings: Licencing.
I
sat on the Licencing Sub-Committee which approved this year’s V-Dub Festival, which will take place
in August at Afton. This application proved not to be too contentious, and the only
objector did not attend the hearing.
The
Licensing Committee also approved revisions to the Entertainment Licence
following complaints raised by neighbours over noise nuisance for the last 3 years
at Newclose. The Licensee agreed to
install a sound limiter to reduce noise from the Marquee. Again, a compromise
was agreed between the licensee and objectors at the hearing.
Cowes Enterprise
College.
Cowes
Enterprise College had a fourth monitoring visit at the end of March, with
inspectors confirming progress is still being made.
Like
many other schools restructuring staff is necessary, and will focus on there being sufficient numbers of
qualified, specialist teachers to teach all students across the curriculum.
This will result in less money being available to support non-teaching posts.
This
restructuring will be subject to a formal consultation.
The
IW Council’s Executive Committee will be discussing funding the completion of
building works at the College, this is likely to be preceded by a public
meeting outlining progress of this project.
Economy &
Environment Scrutiny
I
have suggested to the Chairman of the Council’s Scrutiny Committee that the
following matters are considered by scrutiny as issues requiring
monitoring. These are as follows:
·
PFI,
and how the IW Council intends monitor this.
·
Superfast
Broadband and its implementation
·
Tourism:
The Work of Visit Isle Of Wight, and outcomes.
·
The
IW Council’s Car Parking Strategy.
·
The
IW Council’s Strategic Plan for Economic Development.
·
The
IW Waste Strategy.
·
Planning:
Area Action Plans and Progress?
·
Newport
Harbour, its future and long term strategy.
·
Cowes
Floating Bridge.
Small Business Rate Relief: The Government has
extended the doubling of Small Business Rate Relief until 1 April 2015
The Government has acknowledged that more
assistance should be given to small, single property businesses and
consequently introduced the Small Business Rate Relief Scheme.
The scheme is funded by a supplement on the rate
bills of ratepayers who do not meet the criteria.
Who qualifies?
·
Any ratepayer who occupies a single property within
England where the rateable value (RV) is less than £12,000, or ratepayers who
only occupy one main property in England with a rateable value of less than
£12,000 and other additional properties, provided those additional properties
have rateable value less than £2,600 and the total value of all properties is
below £18,000.
·
Ratepayers who meet the criteria but the rateable
value if above £12,000 and below £18,000 will not qualify for small business
rate relief; however their rate bill will be calculated using the small
business rate multiplier. In this case, the relief will only be
applied to the one main property.
Notification of changes
A condition of entitlement to small business rate
relief is that a ratepayer must notify the billing authority of changes in
circumstances that may affect entitlement to relief which are:
·
Taking up occupation of an additional property, and
·
An increase in the rateable value of a property
occupied by the ratepayer in an area other than the area of the local authority
which granted the relief.
For further information contact
the Business Rates department Business.rates@iow.gov.uk of 01983 823920
Also This month:
·
There
has been an increase in dog fouling in recent weeks in Albert Road, Worsley
Road and Winding Way, Gurnard. I have
requested that the pavement is disinfected and these roads are monitored.
·
I
attended my second meeting of the Solent Forum.
The focus of this meeting was noting how communities continue to cope
with Coastal Change (very pertinent this winter!!)
·
I
have received complaints from residents of both Tuttons Hill and the Hornhill
section of Rew Street regarding vehicle speeds.
This is a matter which I am taking up with Island Roads, The Police and
Gurnard Parish Council.
·
Street
Lighting has been fixed in Baring Road.
Having remained lit for 3 months!
·
I
attended a road safety meeting at Gurnard Primary School, and met winners of a
competition to design a leaflet to support safety outside the school gates.
·
I
have been in liaison with two residents complaining about Council Tax Increases;
One resident, who is a business owner in Cowes concerned about evening Car
Parking Increases and one resident concerned by car parking increases at
Appley.
·
I’ve
been in dialogue with several residents over resurfacing which has taken place
in Shore Road, Gurnard. Letters have been mailed out to residents, whilst a
temporary surface has been laid in preparation for additional work to be
undertaken by SGN and Southern Water.
·
I’ve
requested Pot Holes are filled in Charles Road, whilst manhole covers are made
safe in Park Road.
·
Further
information has been requested regarding what steps the IW Council are taking
to get Over 50 year olds back into work.
·
I
am in the process of circulating my Annual Report which I aim to deliver to
every household in Cowes West and Gurnard.
Please let me know if you do not receive yours!
