NHS Health and Social Care

It's about time that people on the island were fully aware of the threat to their health and wellbeing. Especially for the older and more vulnerable Islanders.  

The Conservative Government have just announced their latest approach to helping the population. Coordinating social and health care to keep people back in their homes and communities 

The Island Conservative Council though has just destroyed a successful island scheme of Local Area Coordinators that has kept many people at home and out of expensive hospital beds. This saves small amounts of money from March this year but with no real consultation, and over riding its own Scrutiny Committee recommendations.

The local health Authority tell the Public there are options to move lots or some of the acute and specialist care off island. They ignore the message from the public that this is too damaging to the health and pockets of Islanders and decide on a drastic option to transfer major facilities to the mainland. Without an agreement with hard pressed local mainland NHS and against the wishes of the key Council  Committee who castigated the approach and ineffectiveness. 
The Health Authority's public consultation looks like a figleaf to justify their already planned decision, and showcases why democratic oversight is so important. 
The local non party Save the NHS campaign and concerned locals keep raising these issues. While from my viewpoint I hope that the Lib Dem focus on local pressure and national pragmatic push can alleviate some of the damaging effects of the current Conservative Government and Council.

Environmental Energy Focus

Environmental issues are important and obvious on a small self contained island, however the Council approach is piecemeal without a coherent policy or strategy. 
One key area is energy supplies and management. For the island we need to balance saving energy eg through insulation, efficient lighting and appliances and improved transport. With sources of energy in biomass, fossil fuels, electricity supplies from the mainland, solar panels and wind power. I'm aware directly of the engineering challenges that have prevented the production of robust wave and tidal flow power and there is little to show those being close to market.
We all know that the island is not in favour of onshore turbines. So its doubly unfortunately the Conservative Government killed the the large wind turbine array off the UK South Coast by stopping the  Green Bank funding. A Bank created by the Lib Dems while junior partner in the coalition. Funding that would have provided jobs and key opportunities for Island people and ports. 
It would also have assisted Vestas a major supplier of turbine blades and a significant provider of Island jobs. 
In a connected blog I've discussed the issues with the Regeneration Strategy. The failed investment where the Council funded a Ventnor hub for offshore energy is a prime example of insufficient due diligence of both the company, the industry and the technology.
Perhaps the island should look to universities and related bodies, and companies to offer island as a market test bed for energy saving and energy management technologies. However that would require coordination and long term planning which we have yet to see.

Transparency and honesty

A key sign of something going wrong is when authorities stop answering questions, or are found out stretching the truth or even lying. Investigating Company Frauds in an earlier life sharpened my sense of when something is being hidden and those forensic accounting skills help with some of the hidden elements of budgets.

On the island in the Floaty McFloatfarce of the Floating bridge is a prime example of hiding facts. The continued obstruction and failure to be honest; The whining protests that it's all working perfectly. Until you compare the trips on the replacement small boat and the actual numbers of travellers. Until you see how many breakdowns and the need for an extra push boat to keep it running at all. 

If we look at the plans for St Marys roundabout where the scheme was as stale as last year's christmas cake. The consultation was a limited token gesture. One Councillor with some personal effort managing to encourage more comments than the entire Council apparatus. Then the Conservative Council Cabinet push through a tweaked  scheme that ignores the key protest; why this scheme, why now, and why not wait for a comprehensive and developed transport policy. 

Personally I followed up the story of Non disclosure agreements (NDAs) with a Freedom of Information request. These NDAs are where someone is paid off by the Council and then legally obliged to keep quiet. The Council disclosed to me these agreements related to internal and education staff but they were unable to tell me who asked for non-disclosure. Which is just nonsense and I suspect hides the fact that most NDAs were Council  and schools hiding their behaviour and keeping a number of whistleblowers quiet. 

We all know things can go wrong but sometimes you just have to stop digging the hole. Honesty and transparency are essential for elected officials and you can be certain that if I'm part of any Liberal Democrat administration I will not sign off on any NDA agreements to shut staff up, we would consult widely, and we would pretend that something is working.

Island thanks

Although there are things that we could improve its is worth reflecting on the many reasons why we live on the Island.
The landscape, the sea, the peace and quiet. Architecture, history and wildlife, including the red squirrels; and critically our communities. The people in villages and towns, our neighbours and friends. Work colleagues, former work colleagues, fellow sports people. The one place where I've lived where you can go around with a smile, where people don't think it strange to chat, where people, even boy racers, are polite on the road. Having worked in London while living on the island it is interesting to see their concerned reaction to a smile or eye contact, especially on public transport.
Having knocked on hundreds of doors on the Island last December/January and delivering for Councillor members I can testify to the inherent kindness of my island neighbours.
We have a lot to be proud of on this small island and it is great to call it home.

Regeneration

With personal knowledge and expertise, and my activist hat I'd love to praise the draft Regeneration strategy; but I cannot.  Does the Council ever learn?

13 odd years ago as Head of Science and Innovation for UKTI with a national responsibility I talked to the then Council CEO and Conservative Council Leader about cooperating with companies and skilled professionals on the island, alongside the Universities and Research Institutes I knew in order to generate innovative business and high skilled jobs on the island. They didn't seem to follow what they were being offered just wanted me to get them more money from the Regional Development Authority. Given their failure to understand the possibilities and the clear knowledge that they would be unable to use money constructively they received nothing and I stuck to my day job supporting UK  trade overseas, helping companies invest in the UK and developing a coherent approach to innovation across 12 different areas and groups aka the Innovation Map.

In 2018 the Council launched a Regeneration plan and took it out to consultation. I welcomed the idea and went through it carefully, spoke to the key people and attended a couple regeneration meetings across the island. And then went into a deep depression. 

It is clear that a lot of effort, on public engagement and expertise has gone into this plan. However the plan is a mixture of financial wishes focused on more housing to bring in Council Tax. It has limited plans for development and  no real focus on the key aspects of job creation or industry development. 

More housing is a nonsensical way to regenerate the island, build our industry and jobs and protect the environment. And given the vanishing hospital services and ever increasing ferry costs the possibility of success seem remote. 

There are some good ideas eg shared housing for older residents but there are more poor approaches. Two examples from the draft:-

Newport Harbour touted as a major development opportunity seems to consist of the privatisation of public space with little to support the existing business and organisations and even less maintain full public access.

Kingston Marina has been brought with the plan that companies driven out of East Cowes by the Red Funnel expansion can relocate. But there isn't the money available. Especially when the Council invest 19 million pounds of borrowed money in North West industrial estates. 

So what would an island focussed industrial regeneration strategy look like? 

We would start with talking to existing business and expertise. Your best investor is the one already here, not a new Chinese developer. Do they know how many people from the City of London live on and love the island? Given support from Council and other sources such as the Solent LEP we could find the most innovative and successful people on the island and find what they need. We could drive the creation of an Island Innovation Fund. Competitive and straightforward competition with a short term selected board; An Island Dragons Den without the theatricals. 

Other issues remain to be managed such as the ferry issue with and without Central Government help. Or even a genuine look at a fixed link if only to focus the minds of the ferry company owners.

We also need to find out all the successful and unique industries on the island and then bring together the education sector here and locally on the mainland to deliver the educated workforce they need. 

The island has a proud history of engineering with 100 years of constructing ships, boats and aircraft and with a current expertise in high level engineering, composites and boat building. 

There are other businesses eg sport, environmental tourism,  high level agricultural products and culture: we have a fantastic story to tell with cometent people working hard to deliver that success. 

This Regeneration plan ignores or damages the current successful industry. Stop throwing money in the wrong direction!