Empowering Islanders Slammed As Councillors Jump Ship

“The NIMBY party” and the “shuffling of the deckchairs on the Alliance Titanic” is how some Isle of Wight councillors are reacting to the news of a new group at County Hall.

Last week, three councillors defected from the ruling Alliance Group — Cllrs Dave Adams, Chris Jarman and John Medland — and were joined in the Empowering Islanders group by Cllr Peter Spink, who had earlier in the week left the Conservatives.

It meant the Alliance Group is now the second biggest group in the authority with fewer votes than the Conservatives.

Together, Empowering Islanders said they are trying to get things done without the party politics, and while the move has garnered support from some, others are not so keen.

Here’s what some members of the Isle of Wight Council had to say…

Cllr Richard Quigley (Labour)

The representative for Cowes North said there was never a dull week in politics and the four councillors had done the “honest thing and set themselves up as the NIMBY party.”

“My main issue with all of this,” he said, “is the average Islander cares more about if their bins are emptied, whether they can access decent housing and afford to put food on the table than they do about this self-imposed melodrama in what looks like Fisher-Price Westminster to anyone outside.

“Those of us that want the best for the Island will continue to fight for that and ignore this sideshow.”

Cllr Andrew Garratt (Liberal Democrats) 

The leader of the fourth biggest group on the Isle of Wight Council, Cllr Garratt said the new group doesn’t change the fundamental situation that no party has overall control.

He said it means councillors will need to talk to each other to make sure the priorities of the council are clear and they work together as much as possible to make change happen.

Cllr Geoff Brodie (Independent Labour)

With three members of the group leaving the ruling Alliance Group, Cllr Brodie said it seemed like a “shuffling of the deckchairs on the Alliance Titanic.”

He said:

“I left the Alliance very early in this administration due to the malign influence of the NIMBY councillors. Now they have all, except the Green Party, left the Alliance themselves.”

Cllr Brodie said it was strong belief affordable, rented homes, sometimes on greenfields, needed to be built for Islanders and the shuffling around “won’t make any difference in focusing the current Council leadership on what really matters to Islanders.”

“We probably need a leadership that is willing to work cross-party so long as no one has a majority,” he said.

Cllr Joe Robertson (Conservative) 

The leader of the now-biggest group on the Isle of Wight Council, Cllr Robertson said he had always had a good working relationship with the members of Empowering Islanders and he shares their concerns about the slow-moving pace of change of the authority.

He said he looked forward to working with them as individuals and in their new group.

Cllr Robertson raised the issue it was now ‘unsustainable’ that 13 Alliance councillors, only a third of the authority, control the Cabinet that runs the council.

He said he did not think that is what votes expect in a democracy.