IN ALL OUR INTERESTS......

I think this Press Release from the Council is worthy of posting on my blog. Almost precisely what was discussed between the ex-workers and the Council leadership on 17th August:

"MP and Council tell SEEDA: apply stringent conditions to Vestas

The Island's MP and the Isle of Wight Council Leader have called for safeguards to be put in place to ensure that a brand new Vestas facility, to be supported with substantial public money, provides long-term benefits to the local economy.

On behalf of the Island community, Andrew Turner MP and Cllr David Pugh have written to the South East England Development Agency (SEEDA), requesting that the site of the recently closed manufacturing plant at St Cross be released by Vestas before public money is used to support their new Research & Development facility at Stag Lane, which is currently owned by SEEDA.

The letter follows final confirmation that Vestas is to close its UK production facilities at St Cross - with a loss of over 400 jobs on the Island.

Mr Turner and Cllr Pugh also urge SEEDA and the Department for Energy and Climate Change (DECC) to ensure that their proposed £6m grant funding to Vestas will be subject to appropriate conditions, to demonstrate that this public investment would be to the long-term benefit of the Island's economy.

Their letter to SEEDA Chief Executive Pam Alexander states: "We are increasingly concerned at the lack of jobs available for the highly skilled workforce which has been made redundant.

"Whilst we welcome the proposed jobs for the R&D facility at Stag Lane, we are concerned that Vestas appear reluctant to release the St Cross site for alternative use.

"There are a number of firms interested in expanding renewable energy technology on the Island and we consider that the vacated St Cross premises offer potential for the location of this work, with the possibility of providing alternative employment for the redundant workers, which is something we all want to achieve."

The MP and the council also highlight the shortage of wharves on the Island available for current and future economic development. Under current plans Vestas will have use - in some cases exclusive use - of three of only five sites on the River Medina capable of handling seagoing cargos when the Stag Lane site is complete.

"We consider that there is an urgent need to review the availability of wharves and we are keen to explore with SEEDA how to best secure their long-term accessibility for the benefit of the Island's economy, rather than a single company," the letter states.

"There is a real danger that Vestas may wish to hold their present sites, with associated wharves, to the exclusion of others, while their activities are reduced to a token presence providing only limited employment. This would be inappropriate given the considerable investment from public funds that has gone into both sites."

The MP and the council call on SEEDA to consider a right of way for general use from Stag Lane to the Cement Mills wharf, and to consider a similar set-up for their land at Venture Quays (East Cowes), which is also currently used by Vestas.

On the issue of the proposed £6m investment, the letter states: "We would welcome the public announcement of certain key conditions of the public investment, such as the number of jobs that will be created and outline details about any clawback conditions."

The council and Island MP have requested a meeting with SEEDA to discuss their concerns in advance of the terms for the Stag Lane facility being finalised."

The Council acting, incontrovertibly for once, in the interests of the entire Island community. Well done !

THE FRIENDS THEY CHOOSE........

Guess which company said of one of the prime bidders to run our five reorganised local Secondary Schools (Cowes, Carisbrooke, Medina, Ryde & Sandown) as academies from 2010,

"(We are) committed to helping raise educational standards on the Island and to supporting sustainable schools. We would in particular like to encourage the education curriculum to further students' understanding of the planet from the sustainability perspective and to explore the options we have to live sustainably."

Not hard. The delightful Vestas of course, who's understanding of sustainability is driven entirely by the greed for excessive profit above all else.

With just two days left of the consultation period I hope as many Islanders as possible object to this bid based on the dodgy support they have sought. With friends like them do we really want them running our schools ?

See http://eduwight.iow.gov.uk/schools/reorganisation/2competit.asp

BI-PARTISAN ON VESTAS.......

The meeting I set up today between the IW Council leadership and three of the sacked Vestas occupiers went pretty well. So much so that we had Tory councillors wearing the support the Vestas workers 'green ribbons' at the end and saying they thought workforces like Vestas should be unionised !!!!!! The blessed Margaret would drown in her electric bath at that.

An official statement will be issued tomorrow, but the Council pledged to continue seeking alternative wind and other renewable technology companies for the Island and I will continue to press for a positive response from Government to the Council's letter of last week.

"A DAMN GOOD DEAL"

Tonight I went to my first Cabinet of the new Council. It was a special one to approve the Outline Business Case for the Highways PFI, where the Council hope to be granted from Government £400m over the next 25 years to fund a contract with a private outfit, in return for maintaining their current expenditure on highways (£10.5m) over each of those years. All subject to inflation of course. By my reckoning that means the government is putting in £137 million net, at current day prices.

I have always welcomed the bid in the absence of any other plausible means of getting our highways network up to scratch and consider it to b e a damn good deal from our Labour Government.

The Council Leader agreed with me as he did not want to be churlish. This is getting worrying ! Wightlink, members allowances, a Vestas response, now Highways PFI - agreement from the Tories on all four in just two months of this Council......

It was a shame though that such an significant decision was not made at Full Council - even if it is August - rather than by the six members of the Cabinet with just FIVE other Councillors present - and none from the LibDem group. Nothing ever changes.......

WHERE'S THE MISSING BANNER ?

All the lobbying of Ed Miliband by Island Labour members including myself, Mark Chiverton, and Deborah Gardiner over the last few weeks drew some positive words from his deputy Joan Ruddock at a meeting with two Vestas workers and the RMT today in London.

Ms Ruddock told the guys that redundancy payments should be reinstated for the sacked workers who occupied/still occupy the plant, that redundancy payments for all 600 should be improved, and that the Government will not abandon the Island even if Vestas have. The proof of course will be in the pudding, though in my view this is the least the government could have told them and anything less from Vestas will show them as the ethically deficient company they clearly are.

I was tickled to notice today up at the plant that the typically opportunistic IW Liberal banner that was displayed on the fencing a week ago has been removed. A consequence I am told of the Simon Hughes visit earlier this week. Bring more of the Liberal leaders down to the Island I say, so that they can be exposed as the charlatans they are.