THE Euros football competition is reaching an exciting climax, but not as exciting a climax as the recent battle for control of the Isle of Wight Council.

Steve Hastings thought his Tory team would somehow find their way to victory, but Lora Peacey-Wilcox gathered the independents together (just as I suggested she would in my previous article) and scored a last-minute winner. New Independent Administration 1, Old Tory Administration 0.

The win puts the Independent Administration through to the next round, where they face the people of the Isle of Wight. This next game will last four years, and if the new independent administration are to go any further than 2025, they will need to score at least one goal and hope they don’t score any own goals.

The group have wasted no time in publishing their post-election manifesto, which comprises of six promises, or six shots at goal if you like. Here are the six promises with my response after each:

FUNDING: Spending and investing as much council money on the Isle of Wight as is possible.

This appears to be a nothing kind of promise. Of course Isle of Wight Council money should be spent and invested on the Island — where else are they going to spend it, Chipping Sodbury? This promise can’t fail, but if the new council think they have gotten themselves an early goal, they can think again. Offside. No goal.

TRANSPORT: Finding a permanent working solution to Floating Bridge 6 — if appropriate by scrapping and replacing it.

We all know that Floating Bridge 6 isn’t fit for purpose and we are fed up with good money being thrown after bad. A vehicle crossing is no longer needed — this is the 2020s, not the 1920s when a chain ferry was needed to take cars across the river because it took six days to drive around the River Medina! It’s time to go back to just having a passenger launch which will actually make the council money rather than cost them hundreds of thousands. Any fudging and it really will be an own goal.

HOUSING: Gaining greater control of the planning system and prioritising truly affordable housing for Isle of Wight residents.

This is another nothing kind of promise in an attempt to score an easy goal. The planning system follows guidelines from various Parliamentary Acts; none more so than the Town and Country Planning Act 1990, so there will be no ‘gaining control’. Developers have no interest in building ‘affordable’ properties and with no money in the pot for the council to build their own properties, this will come to nothing — offside again. No goal.

HEALTH: Placing the health and wellbeing of residents at the centre of all activity and prioritising dealing with health inequalities and the resulting poverty which has been highlighted during the pandemic.

What does ‘putting residents at the centre of all activity’ actually mean and how do we possibly monitor it? It’s the sort of statement that looks good on paper but has no substance — yet another attempt at an easy goal for the council, but again it’s not hitting the net. No goal.

EDUCATION: Working with local communities to maintain and ensure appropriate local school provision.

The shrewd Lora Peacey-Wilcox hasn’t made the same mistake as both of her leader predecessors, David ‘Top 10 per cent in the country’ Pugh and Dave ‘25 per cent OFSTED outstanding’ Stewart when it comes to the subject of education. Lora has made no outlandish promises about results, instead just promising to provide local buildings for education — Lora knows that most parents are far more interested in convenience than results. The new independent administration has already suspended the closure of Chillerton and Rookley Primary School as a crowd-pleaser, but that doesn’t constitute scoring a goal in my book. Just doing nothing will see this promise fulfilled, so again it’s no goal.

REGENERATION: Treating Covid recovery as integral to everything, including supporting the regeneration of our town centres and aiming to ensure there is free parking provision in all towns.

Playing the ‘Covid recovery’ card is an easy point scorer for the council, as is promising a little bit of free parking and offering ‘support’ for the regenerating of our town centres, but high streets across the land are failing, so the new Isle of Wight Council officer in charge of regeneration, Julie Jones-Evans, hasn’t got a chance of regenerating ours. Using the word ‘supporting’ regeneration rather than ‘promising’ regeneration is yet another wishy-washy policy that doesn’t score a goal.

In summary, this council have made no tangible promises regarding: finance, housing, health, education or regeneration, so it all comes down to sorting the floating bridge debacle. Lora and Co now have four years to get it right and advance in the competition.