£200 parking permit, to pay for Blue Flag Award?

Ventnor Long Knives · Joined: 09 Oct 2009 Posts: 31

I'm not a dog owner as I live in a flat where pets are not allowed, but I love dogs have owned them in the past and long to do so again. I recently joined the http://www.wightdogs.com website having come across them in a google search and on discovering there the lengths the council are going to in order to ban dogs from Ryde beach, so that they can qualify for a Blue Flag led me to closely examine the criteria for this award. Which has left me disgusted that this is being done in my name.

Apart from the lengths to which they are going to kick dogs off the beach, with a consultation that was a sham, just look at the amount of money being spent at the Ryde Harbour and canoe lake area. Although there is little doubt that the £630 application for the Blue flag has already been submitted, we as yet haven't been informed of the actual extent of the beach area involved. But there can be little doubt that it will centre the Harbour beach when you look at the works going on around this area.

Have a look at the activity at the run down toilet block by the Harbour, which we have had to endure for years, they are having a fortune spent on a complete refurbishment. Then look at the speed humps being installed extensively all around the area, which must be costing an absolute fortune. The beach soccer was kicked off this area, we wouldn't want to offend the judges, and where they wished be build a stand for spectators an extensive children's play area was installed.

The list goes on, but wait a minute aren't we facing major cuts in services due to an £11 million hole in the budget on the Island, with parking permits increasing from £75 to £200 (pensioners £50 to £200) 10% increase in parking charges, not to mention the all year round parking charge once again in this same harbour area. Scrapping free travel for those with severe mental heath problems. A 6.7% increase for Wightbus fares. Withdrawal of financial support for disability day centres, respite services (Alzheimers), learning disabilities, Haylands Farm etc. Axeing the councils work training project, lunch club subsidy, Stoneham Housing support. Homeless budget cut by £30,000 per year and so the list goes on and what about the increase in council tax on top of this lot.

Yet there is plenty of money to gain this purely voluntary award by meeting its extensive and irrelevant criteria, but that's not the end of it as with the award comes further expensive requirements. ie professional water testing and analysis at 17 day intervals throughout the award season, the list of requirements and further expense is endless, even down to the daily cleaning of storm water outlets and their surrounding areas during rainstorms , the British summer certainly has plenty of those, and the Monkton Mead outlet is smack bang in the centre of the Harbour beach.

Who wants this meaningless award? And more to the point shouldn't this frivolous waste of our money only be considered after all essential services are properly funded, including resurfacing and maintaining all of our roads.

Here's a link to the Blue Flag award criteria http://www.blueflag.org/Menu/Criteria when you get to the page there is another link to a pdf which contains all the extensive criteria that must be met throughout the spring/summer award period. Shocked

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Wight Portal · Joined: 17 Sep 2009 Posts: 316 Location: Carisbrooke

What a brilliant business!!

God I wish I thought of that. All you have to do is get the relevant experts to come up with minimum standards for the award. Then get paid a commission from every so called expert you get work for. Your marketing becomes viral because all the experts add your logo to their marketing.

In these times of uncertainty regarding the environment, who wouldn't be suckered into such an award.

What a fantastic way to waste money!!

Ventnor Long Knives · Joined: 09 Oct 2009 Posts: 31

Ventnor Long Knives · Joined: 09 Oct 2009 Posts: 31

When we have our Blue Flag everything will be different, you will see, we will all be so rich we will be lighting cigars with £50 notes. And then you will be grateful that our Essential Services were sacrificed.

Assuming of course that the sea water at Ryde doesn't fail again due to the sewage in it.

In any case its only the vulnerable and the elderly that will suffer the most and the majority of them cant speak up for themselves anyway.

Wight Portal · Joined: 17 Sep 2009 Posts: 316 Location: Carisbrooke

Here Here let's be having it!!!

There has over the years been similar schemes as this. I seem to remember Gurnard flew a flag a few years ago awarded to them for exceptional water quality.

Strange though there were still people coming out of the water after a quick dip with extra appendages stuck to them.

How far does the outfall go at Ryde? I know they used to think it was Ryde's that was washing up at Yaverland, until someone pointed out it was Southsea's.

Do the water testers just take samples from rolled up trouser depth, or do they venture deeper? Will it not be cleaner if the samples are taken from an incoming wave rather than a returning one, where it's been churning up the shore?

Does this flag come in any other colour I don't think blue is the in colour at the moment is it?

Ventnor Long Knives · Joined: 09 Oct 2009 Posts: 31

Perhaps they could increase the car parking charges even further around the Harbour and Canoe Lake, in order to put us off from going there, and then they could include a pass to the new toilets in with the parking fee. That would keep us out. Then at the end of the season they could lock them up again and put the fence back up.

Why don't they just round us all up during the summer season and put us in a ghetto somewhere out of the way, so as not to offend the Blue Flag seekers.
Although they would have to let some of us out every now and then to clear up after the holiday makers for the minimum wage.

Ventnor Long Knives · Joined: 09 Oct 2009 Posts: 31

They spend a fortune on driving up and down this beach with a tractor and beach rake every single day of the summer season.

Yet when the holiday makers go home its just abandoned in this state all winter.

Wight Portal · Joined: 17 Sep 2009 Posts: 316 Location: Carisbrooke

Remember a Blue Flag is only for Summer!!

I've emailed our wonderful MP Andrew Turner about this subject and the increase in parking permits. His secretary says he's looking into it, so it should be an interesting reply.

Ventnor Long Knives · Joined: 09 Oct 2009 Posts: 31

[quote="Wight Portal"]Remember a Blue Flag is only for Summer!!

Lets face it Everything is only for Summer!! just take a look at the amount of litter bins down Union Street in Ryde, one every 50 metres at least. Then look at the almost complete lack of litter bins in the streets where we who pay the council tax live. There are very few left and more are being taken away.
Thats just one example, the state of the beach is another but come the summer season it will be the same old story the entire years budget will be blown in five months and then back to neglect for seven months again.

Ventnor Long Knives · Joined: 09 Oct 2009 Posts: 31

click the link to watch the video over on youtube
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ohEpyzE2p1c

Why on earth cant we embed videos on this forum?
?
?

Isle of Wight Insider · Joined: 08 Jan 2010 Posts: 4 Location: Islandwide

I agree with all you had to say on the video over on YT Long Knives. More and more as I walk around the streets I am seeing dog mess, today I walked down Ladies walk in Ryde and there was loads of it and usually that really bugs me as we all get the blame but now I'm starting to think well I don't really blame them as when you take your responsibilities seriously what happens? This council just disregard everything you have to say and sh*t on us from a great height, and I think people have had enough of being persecuted by this incompetent dictatorship of a council. Who the hell do they think they are?
If you continually treat people as the enemy eventually you will make them the enemy.

Wight Portal · Joined: 17 Sep 2009 Posts: 316 Location: Carisbrooke

OK the long awaited reply by the Council on The Blue Flag Award.

I quote:

In the first instance I confirm that there is no direct relationships between the fees and charges collected for the use of the Council's car parks and the application for the blue flag awards for the Island's beaches and especially those in Ryde.

The blue flag scheme is a nationally administered scheme that enables potential visitors to a beach to be able to understand quite clearly the 'offer' available to them, when they visit it. It is therefore helpful in differentiating the quality of the beach from another using criteria applied consistently nationwide.

In this sense it is no different to the grading schemes (run by the AA or Quality in Tourism) that are applied to visitor accommodation having the same purpose of allowing a potential visitor to choose between different accommodation of different qualities to suit their particular needs.

The Island was fortunate to have three beaches in 2009 that were accredited to blue flag standard beaches (it has four that could be accredited in 2010). This enables it to significantly differentiate itself from other tourist destinations and forms a key part of the visitor 'offer' that is promoted to potential visitors.

The Island does of course have many other items of interest that can and are used to differentiate it from competing destinations. The quality of the beaches are however an important message to give to the 'family market' that is critical to the Island's tourist industry.

Thank you for your enquiry in this matter and please do let me know if you require any further information in this regard.

John Metcalfe
Deputy Director, Economy, Tourism and Leisure
for the Isle of Wight Council.

The above is dated 19th March I got it today, via Andrew Turner MP who I had originally contacted.

There's no mention where the funding came from. As usual, as far as I know, we the electorate were not asked whether we wanted to spend our money on this award that at the end of the day doesn't mean a thing.

He uses the comparison of the AA star grading for accommodation. Just because a hotel has so many stars it doesn't necessarily mean it's going to be at that standard the day you turn up to stay at it.

This is no different to the MOT test on your car. You can take your car to one garage and it will pass, go down the road and you fail.

It staggers the imagination.

lsc73 · Joined: 09 Apr 2009 Posts: 37

I witnessed an old lady letting her dog do its business on the beach a week ago and leaving it there.

There are too many people who don't clear up and let the other reponsible dog owners down so the only way is to ban them all from beaches imo.

Ventnor Long Knives · Joined: 09 Oct 2009 Posts: 31

Ventnor Long Knives · Joined: 09 Oct 2009 Posts: 31