For the past few years a growing number of residents of the coastal area of Ryde have realised that we are under-represented on the Isle of Wight Council – almost ¼ of the population have only 1/8 of the councillors – meaning that a vote in Ryde is worth only half of that in other parts of the Island.

This has meant that both the residents of this amazing Regency Town, our Town Council, County Councillors and the town itself are often ignored by the County Council who can outvote our planners and our representatives.

The Ryde School Boarding House is one case in point and it all became too much when plans were shown to the Town Council Planning Committee for large residential developments to be built along the Esplanade, without consultation with our representatives. These plans are currently being reconsidered.

Public meeting
In the longer term, we intend to work with Ryde Town Council to create a neighbourhood plan for the main Conservation Area and, in the meanwhile, we are asking a representative of organisations, clubs and societies that are based or operate within our neighbourhood area, coastal Ryde, to attend our next meeting in the Esplanade Hotel on Monday 18th June at 7.00.

Our aim is to ensure that Ryde, its 400 or so listed buildings, its wonderful beach, superb restaurants and oldest leisure pier in the world speaks as one community voice. We will be looking for ideas for ways to further promote the town and to create a wonderful positive vibe here. We recognise the need for change, but not just to make money for the County Council to allocate elsewhere.