On Air Now Josh Beaven 7:00pm - Midnight Christina Aguilera - Genie In A Bottle Schedule

Alternative Budgets Ahead Of All-Important Isle Of Wight Meeting

Flood defences, an anti-poverty strategy and more money for affordable housing are some of the alternative ideas on how the Isle of Wight Council should spend its money in the year ahead.

Tomorrow night (Wednesday), the authority will approve its spending, cuts and income generation schemes from April 1, in a move that could see council tax increase 2.99 per cent.

The ruling Alliance administration has already approved its budget and recommended it to the council, suggesting £25 million to build affordable homes, £2.5 million to start a council-owned housing company and paying a fee if Islanders want to live stream funerals online.

The council’s finance lead, Cllr Chris Jarman, had said the Alliance’s budget was moving away from cuts and managing decline.

Now, three alternative budgets have been proposed by fellow councillors, to make changes to the Alliance’s budget.

Cllr Ian Dore

A member of the Alliance group, Cllr Ian Dore has proposed something in additions to the group proposals.

Following the flooding in Binstead last year, Cllr Dore has asked for £170,000 to fund effective drainage and flood mitigation works to significantly reduce the chances of future flooding.

To find the money, Cllr Dore has proposed deferring the painting of the Shanklin Cliff Lift and reducing the annual capital maintenance works fund.

Any money leftover from installing the defences, would be returned and used towards the highest priority maintenance need.

Cllr Andrew Garratt

Liberal Democrat Cllr Andrew Garratt has shared his concerns before, but with no movement from the council’s cabinet to change its mind, Cllr Garratt has proposed amendments.

He proposed only increasing Wightcare costs by three per cent, instead of the proposed 13 per cent; removing the fee for discretionary live-streaming funerals and shelving redundancies in the contact centre.

He also asked for an anti-poverty strategy to be developed with an implementation fund of £325,000.

To fund his changes, Cllr Garratt is proposing to reduce the money going into the transformation reserve by £458,000, not ‘dissimilar to the figures from the previous years’.

Conservatives

While the main opposition group largely welcomed the Alliance’s budget, the Tories say there are some areas that lack ambition and leave scope for improvement.

Instead of only borrowing £25 million to build affordable homes, the Tories are proposing £40 million to go further.

Other additions include a £60,000 independent review of the significant available brownfield sites on the Island, £200,000 for increased staff in the planning department and removing the cuts to the contact centre.

They are also proposing £500,000 to restore and improve access to beaches, footpaths, bridleways and rights of way and a further £500,000 to plant trees and restore hedgerows on council-owned land, no suitable for housing.

The final budget will be approved tomorrow and you can watch along here: iow.moderngov.co.uk/ieListDocuments.aspx?CId=172&MId=497

More from Isle of Wight News