Northwood House, Cowes

EinsteinsGhost · Joined: 20 Jun 2008 Posts: 92 Location: Ryde

If your still out there Jon, I hope you reply because this is a very interesting subject. I know next to nothing about Northwood House as a relative newcomer to the Island so have little I can contribute, but I would be interested to hear your views on 'newcowesman' post regarding the so-called public meeting. If true, was this the fault of County Press reporting or the Council?

Isle of Wight Forum · **Posted:** 16-12-2009, 17:45 **Post subject:** Sponsored links

Sponsored links - register and/or login to hide this ad.

Friendly · Joined: 09 Dec 2009 Posts: 15

Thank Mike, very interesting points you raised, but I feel you’re becoming a little too diplomatic for the sake of keeping your opinions on here.

The Northwood Forum was shut down because the chair of the trust didn’t like the truths Felix was posting, so to kill our free speech she got here contacts in the parish to close it. This forum has no parish or political connections and is an impartial medium for the residents of the island to post their views and opinions.

I think Gordon Brown is a joke, now is that slander or just my opinion? As a tax paying citizen I feel I am entitled to my opinion and entitled to voice it. The information you have posted is based on fact and therefore cannot be brought into question or dispelled as gossip or slander. It is true that it will upset the people centred around it but, they are so called public servants and their actions are meant to be in the publics best interest, if their actions bring public outcry and ‘opinions’ to be posted then they only have themselves to blame. Denying it and doing all they can to close a forum to quash the publics voice will only cause them to go elsewhere as they did in this case when they closed for NVF because people were posting truths they did not want to see, or be made public.

As for Jon Matthews post, I feel you gave him more credit than he was entitled to, what did he actually say in his post? He just confirmed what we knew about the various council structures and that maybe one person was not party to a meeting you posted details on.

What he didn’t say is why he saw fit to personally introduce a party to the trust? When I approached the council with a view to renting a part of the house as a childrens day care centre I was just given Liz Mackenzies answering service number, I left 2 messages and to date have no response. I have since learned by myself that they house is in such a bad way this would not be possible but I would of liked a response from a person charged with the decision on the houses future in the best interest of the people that fund it and to whom it was gifted. Why did Alan Wells choose to attend this meeting? Out of all the 4 parties to come forward this was the only one to have an elected member introduce it and another attend? All seems very suspect to me, and I would not be the least bit surprised if it is this very same party that gets the houses lease awarded to them. I wouldn’t even be surprised if the paper put forward by Alan Wells is so they can have the control to ensure this party gets it.

As for the trust having final say, I would like to think so but as we all know, there is no democratic process in there, Liz Mackenzie is there to do the councils biddings in the hope it will further her political career and no doubt see her as chair and appointed to yet more allowance paying boards and committees (this is just my opinion formed on facts I have seen and are available to all if you look). As already said anyone that speaks out against her is reported to the scrutiny committee that she sits on, so you tell me, where is the fairness and impartiality of that? Why is that not a conflict of interest.

Why is it that it is only Bank’s construction firm that gets the contracts? Does he not sit on the same panel and a member of the same council as Alan Wells? Doe this not ring alarm bells for any of us? Are we not allowed to ask the question in such a poor economic climate when small businesses are failing why this contract is not put out to tender so smaller business can try and better themselves and bid for it? Is Banks not rich enough, do they really need this? Or is there something in it for Wells and Matthews? I am not saying that is the case, I am just posing the question!

Finally, if what you did the other night was public information and was so beneficial for the future of Northwood, what exactly was it you did? What was the outcome? As for why I did not attend, I only learned there was going to be a meeting last Friday, I saw no mention it was public, where it was being held and at what time. This is a common ploy by councils when they want to pass something by the public they fear they might object to, the hold a so called public meeting, do very little to publicise it and when people object to what was passed, they’re qualified to say “it was a public meeting, if you cared so much why didn’t you attend and voice it when it mattered” I fully suspect that this meeting was posted on the councils notice board but sadly I have family and work commitments, I can not spend my free time sat around the council offices waiting for their announcements to be posted, if it was on the IOW Council web site, then unless you know what committee is holding the meeting and in what capacity, they isn’t much you can do other than look at every one in the hope you find something.

So rather than come here to defend yourself and your good name Cllr Matthews, how about you set the record straight and give us the answers we seek? If you feel so strongly about the house why don’t you make it your business to bring details of these meetings to our attention this an adequate public forum you could post details on here. If I cared as much as you say you do I would be doing all I can to bring details of these public meetings to every ones attention, I would be shouting from every rooftop and every oracle for the publics support, if anything to educate them at the very least.

I see this post as constructive, I have posted my opinion, but I feel I am entitled to do that, nothing I said could be seen as misplaced, slanderous or misleading in anyway. If something I say is untrue or ill-founded I will gladly correct it and apologise. But until such time I will continue to voice my opinions and do all I can to save this house.

Thank you

CCC of Cowes

newcowesman · Joined: 07 Dec 2009 Posts: 18

Northwood People · Joined: 10 Dec 2009 Posts: 9

Well thank you Jon Matthews for straightening out those facts for us, we really needed the history lesson and it is reassuring to know that George Brown was not at that meeting that means so much to us. You may note the sarcasm in this text because I really cannot see what your posting achieved other than to criticise people for not attending a meeting that was not publicised as being public. Claim the posting on here are slanderous when in all actual fact they are based on true fact, and the personal opinions of concerned citizens, and I have to say it is a sorry state of affairs when it takes the mention of the word “crook” for an elected member to get involved, and sadly in such a self serving and pointless way. You are in the public eye, you cannot expect every one to support your every move and you all must expect criticism from all angles, you only have to turn on the television to see a member of parliament being berated in far worse a way than the concerned and passionate individuals on here, so think yourself very lucky we have retain a certain level of decency in our postings.

We are being constructive, the point of this posting and the Facebook page is to bring this matter to the publics attention and gain their support, why is that not constructive? What else can we do? Oh, and please do not say attend your so called public meetings and voice our opinions as we have done that in the past and got no where, other than our opinions dismissed and the item we were protesting against passed despite the valid and far argument from the public gallery. How can you say that you ‘the council’ are better placed to do something about it when it is blatantly apparent that whilst in the hands of the council that the house got into this state. I simply cannot understand why now after all this time the Town Council want to get involved if not to serve some ulterior motive. How can you say that any elected council is better place to some good when it was 3 previous elected councils that mismanaged the house from day one.

My name is Patricia Cunningham, Mike very kindly made my excuses for me on why I did not attend your meeting, I am mother of 3, I live in Cowes with my husband who is a director of a plastics company on the mainland, I played in the park as a child and take my own children to play there now, in that time I have seen this house dilapidate in the hands of the councils, it is a sorry site. When I learned of the trust and that they would soon be taking control I was pleased that finally something positive would be done, and when I read of a proposal in the County Press that would mean the house will be restored and used for the benefit of the people I was overjoyed. Only later to learn from friends within the council that they had their doubts it would be even be considered. I was only then through the Northwood Village Forum that I learned more truths and decided to join this cause, a cause I feel worthwhile and constructive

So go on Cllr Matthews, what was the good work you did that night? What was it that you and Thirteen Councillors, the Town Clerk, three Trustees and one East Cowes resident achieved that was in the best interest of the house in this very public meeting? We have done our part, we have named ourselves, we are out in the open. Back over to you.

Regards

Patty

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

So are the Cowes people still paying the precept?

If so, and I can't believe it has stopped, where is the money going at the moment?

The house can't be used, there's no happy conclusion on the horizon and so the people are paying for what?

Each new administration has done exactly the same as the previous one, nothing, it just happens that this present one has finally had the whole situation turnaround and bite them. They can't and of course won't take responsibility for the past, but they done very little to solve the problem they knew existed when taking over.
As we now live in a time of freedom of information, it would be nice to see where and how the precept has been spent during their time in administration.

Medina Man · Joined: 17 Dec 2009 Posts: 16

Someone has posted, why are the council getting involved now for? Well have you thought that after years of neglect from previous councils, this one is finally grabbing the bull by the horns and doing something good. Clearly the IOW council have done nothing, the trust, for what they are worth, have done nothing - and please don't lecture me as I have heard it all before - so this council is actually doing something positive and what do you all do, slag them off. Brilliant and constructive.
The post by Cllr Matthews shows a lot of balls but with a slightly angry edge. I do not know this particular person or anyone in the council in fact, and I wait to hear what his answers are to the posed questions. As I mention earlier He may be just as passionate about the house as some of you clearly are but you are looking through very green eyes at the moment as we all know knowledge is power and the council, at the moment, have the knowledge.

I would like to know more about the other interested parties that we have not heard anything from. How long have they been interested and what can they bring to the table? It is fairly obvious to me that Chef Thompson has not got enough money, and Viyella, despite what you have read in the press etc, cannot make it work as the house needs too much money invested at the start to make their plan profitable enough to make any money back. I have spent many years analysing businesses and their profitablility and so I am priviledged enough to be able to quickly see if a proposal is viable or not and from what we have heard, the Viyella proposal does not work financially. So what of these other interested parties? Why does is state that Liz Mckenzie has only had two proposals but yet someone states that there are four? Well why have we not heard from the other two? Surely if the council takes over the running of the house all of these proposals will ahve to be made public which will give us a better idea of any involvement of any party. I say that any interest is good and for someone to start voicing their quite offensive opinion is absolutely disgraceful. I would like to know who Priory Asset IOW are and what their proposal contains and who Nick Duffill is and what his proposal is over to you for that one Cllr Matthews. And please fellow Cowes town folk, lets not slag anyone off until we have factual reasons to do so.

On to the trust. A post on here sends love and congratulates them. For what exactly? So since they started what exactly have they done to prevent the house falling into disrepair. To me this was a way of getting the House's problems away from the IOW council and these individuals have been taken as fools from the IOW council. I need think of the situation and it send shivers down my spine that year on year other people have agreed to take on the responsibility of Northwood House with what support? None. The trustees have not got any support from any council or any other party, including the elusive "friends of Northwood House", please. Letting the council take over, to me from a business point of view, instantly adds weight to any decision but most importantly on control of the accounts. Whilst we're on the subject if the precept is paid to the Cowes Council but the house is run by the IOW council, where has our money been going?

As far as I am aware, doesn't Geoff Banks do all of English Heritage work on the island? Every church that has work done, has had it done by him so I find that the quote saying they called him a cowboy somewhat far fetched. Surely if he was a cowboy then they would not pass any work done by him? Also on this point, someone has stated that English Heritage will match an investment on the house. This is incorrect. English heritage will not grant any money on any listed building no matter what state of repair it is in if the property has just been bought or leased. They do not grant on new purchases.

In respect to any deed of gift, mostly all gifts will state that decisions need to be made "in the interest of". Unless stated this can mean anything you wish it to mean. In this respect, the decision will be made to lease, rent, sell etc is in the best interest of the house, and dont try and tell me anything different. This house needs saving very quickly as the quotes of three million to restore the house are a long way from the figure I would professionally be prepared to put on it. Try nearer to double that amount.

I can see that many people are very keen to resolve the Northwood House issue but angry posts, labelling people will not get us there. We need facts from the horses mouths before we can start making judgements. Clearly the interested parties should ALL be given a chance to publicly speak about their proposals as we should know what will happen to the house. But this needs to happen quickly as it only has a short time left before the house is worthless, and again, dont try and tell me otherwise.

Lets all come together rather trying to fight the world and his wife.

Nick Duffill · Joined: 17 Dec 2009 Posts: 2

My name is Nick Duffill. I am not a resident of the Isle of Wight but live in London.

I am posting tonight as it has been brought to my attention that a post on here contains information which is incorrect. I have expressed my interest in Northwood House and have made an official proposal which for one reason or another has not been publicised by the trustees.

I am however not affiliated with the council as someone has stated. I visited the island in September with a vague colleague who knew of my involvement in certain projects who thought I may be interested in Northwood House. He arranged a meeting in which Alan Wells, Jon Matthews, Liz Mckenzie, Anne Thwaites, Geoff Banks and Jon Shackleton were all present. I have never met any of these individuals prior to this meeting, nor spoke on the telephone or email. I have only been to the Isle of Wight once before and that was around thirty years ago.

On to the more pressing matter of the house itself. I cannot go into much detail about my proposal as of yet. I await instruction from the trustees and/or council. What I can tell you is that it contains details of restoration to the house to see it brought back to its former glory. After restoration the house will continue to be used in the same manner it is being used for today. I know this is a very delicate matter and I wish to be as helpful and considerate as possible whilst dealing with Northwood House. There are many facets to my proposal with improving and updating the existing facilities which I hope will come to light when I am instructed to publicise my proposal. I am usually a very private individual especially when it comes to business but I realise in this case, I do not have the luxury of this option. I regret to inform you that I will not be posting any more information about my proposal but if and when I get the chance to share it with the people of Cowes I will be more than happy to inform you all on this forum. I am sure there will be many people who will have questions which who will want answers and I will be only more than happy to appease you all.

This post is purely to state the point that I am not and have never been in contact with any member of the IOW council and/or the Cowes Town Council prior to the first meeting in September and I ask that the person who made this statement retract it immediately as it completely untrue.

I want my proposal to have the same credibility as the next man and not be tainted in way, shape or form.

Friendly · Joined: 09 Dec 2009 Posts: 15

Dear Nick Duffill

Why is it that someone is arranging a visit with you to see a house with members of the town council when the house is controlled by the IoW Council? Why is that someone you vaguely know, knows you well enough to think that this house is something you would be interested in? what connection do you have with this Island? Why is it you feel so strongly about this house? I think there is more in this for you than just good public spirit and to a public you appear in no way connected to.

No one said you were in contact with the council prior, it was said that the Town Councillors are backing your plans, and this would seem to be true as the very same people you mentions have just presented a paper that would appear to allow them to put a plan in place that would give them the control.

We are all concerned to learn that Geoff Banks was present at that meeting, a town councillor and from I can establish not connected to the house in anyway other than the fact it was his company that carried out the restoration work on Northwood previously and it is rumoured or should I say expected by many that he involvement is that he will be appointed by you to carry out the redevelopment if your application is successful. Now I don’t know if that rumour is true but I do know and I am very close to a council officer who states as fact that the councils own conservation officer was going to refuse to sign off these works as they were sub standard and not in keeping with the period and character of the building as items should have been replace like for like. I know of someone who has also had a conversation with a surveyor from the English Heritage who’s own words was that he felt it was the work of ‘cowboys’. Now I have not seen any of the work and if I did could offer no opinion as I am not a surveyor but from the reports of two individuals that are qualified to comment and have seen the work seem to have very strong views against the standard Cllr Banks construct firm. Again these are not my words and I have no intention of naming the individuals that expressed their opinions off the record and I personally mean no detriment to Cllr Banks. I choose to mention this as it again enforces the publics view that some council members are in this for their own gain, a public belief I would hate to see proved correct.

Seems to be a lot of people on here defending them selves rather than stating what it is they actually mean or intend, I even think that Newcowesman is changing sides as the town of his posts now seem more politically correct.

Nick Duffill · Joined: 17 Dec 2009 Posts: 2

Thanks for your reply Friendly.

I will not be expressing opinions on this forum as I do not think that would be professional, but I will answer what I can for you.

I was told about this project through someone who I have arranged two charity networking parties.

On my initial visit I was surprised to see a group of people waiting to meet me and even more surprised when I was told what their positions were in the community. As they were council members and the house was gifted to the council I was under the impression that they alongside the trustees were the decision makers. I never thought about this again after I left the island.

Please do not get confused with my involvement in this matter. I am a property developer and investor. I am interested for business purposes and not for community spirit as you state. However, and this is an important point - I usually deal with properties which are not in the public eye or in such a prominent position within the community such as this, so it is important in this case to not only build a viable business this time but to appease the Cowes public at the same time. My proposal does exactly this. It is tailored around using the existing facilities and enhancing every asset of the house and grounds for community use. This will improve local facilities, raise local employment and enhance local businesses.

To hear that the council are possibly backing my proposal is good news for me and the people of Cowes as Northwood House is in a serious state of disrepair and needs a lot of investment and fast which I can provide with immediate effect. It is good for the local public too for the reasons stated above. I am looking forward to being able to speak to the local residents about my plans as I'm sure they will be as excited as I am about the project and the future of Northwood House and grounds.

I have only met Geoff Banks once and this was at the meeting. I was unaware that he was a councillor until a few weeks after my visit as he turned up to walk me around the House and explain briefly the major problems with the fabric of the house. This was his input to the meeting and left after our walk. I was under the impression, at that time, that he was a local builder who had knowledge of the house. I now know he is a councillor. I too have not seen any of his work.

On this matter, should I be chosen to carry out the works on the house, all works will be put out to tender amongst local builders and I will certainly not be favouring any particular company, as I stated before, I am a property developer so quality rather than quantity is what I look for in every aspect of the building trades. I subcontract each individual trade to separate companies. I will be running the entire project from start to finish personally.

I will be transparent from start to finish and will be more than happy to answer any questions as soon as a decision has been made to allow me to go public with my proposal. Whether people are changing sides or defending themselves, rest assured I will not be doing with either as I have, and will have, no reason for doing so.

Thanks once again for your reply,

Regards

Nick Duffill

Medina Man · Joined: 17 Dec 2009 Posts: 16

Northwood People · Joined: 10 Dec 2009 Posts: 9

In response to Medina Man

The issue is why now? Why is it that despite allowing the Isle of Wight Council to take the deed in the first place despite Cowes Town Council taking the precept are they now wanting control of the deed now? Before Cowes Town Council was formed the previous administration had control and contributed to its neglect. I don’t see why now the town wants to drag this matter out even longer by their interjection when the trust has not even managed to remove full control of the house from the IoW Council. Can they not at least give the trust a chance to remove the house from IoWC, take control themselves then begin what it was they were set up in the first place to do, find a savour for the house.

The interested parties are as Follows, Chef Robert Thompson of the Hambrough Hotel with the financial backing of a hotelier, then Priory Asset Isle of Wight, who plan to take the house for a major hotel group and build several more bedrooms on the site of the service wing and beyond as well as on the current tennis courts. Nick Duffill who is beleieved to be linked to the Black Palace Group and has made himself known on here I see wants to retain the formal part of the house for weddings and exhibition space and build a 50+ bed residential care home on the site of the present service wing, all these want to take the house on a 999 year we believe available for just £1. Finally we have what is now considered the underdog, Viyella, they want to just manage the house and park while they restore it and retain the full site as it is now and allow it to be used for a range of facilities open to the public who are currently working on a major regeneration scheme for Cowes and Northwood as their main profit making exercise, the house restoration is just a bonus as having fully restored and open to the public will add to the appeal of the area.

The trust is a made up of 5 individuals, formed originally from the Friends of Northwood House. It was the Friends of Northwood that stopped the IoW Council from selling the house off 9 years ago and have since worked as volunteers and without reward or much recognition to save Northwood from being sold and lost for the people. The are currently negotiating the hand over of power from The IoW Council and hope to have full control and final say on the future of the house by Spring 2010. It has been an up hill battle for them, they have no former training in these matters and have no funding at all, and up against the mighty Council they have been lead a merry dance. The trusts current chair who initially got things moving along to a point. However, it would seem her political and personal aspirations have taken president and now it is believed by many that her role of chair is a conflict of interest as she sits on other boards and panels and many feel that the demands on her time simply prevent her from being fully committed to Northwood. In actual fact when a attack is made on her and role as chair her response in retaliation seems nothing more than self preservation and not once has she ever countered the points raised in criticism and seems very good at saying a lot without actually saying anything at all. It would seem to be the chair that is pushing for the long term leasehold sale of the house as apposed to a management term.

As to where the money has been going, well that would appear to us to be a grey area, the IoW Council has also been pulling in round £100,000 a year from the car park but they claim that all goes on ground keeping and as the house has now been closed due to it being unsafe I don’t see how they have spent a penny of the precept on it so where it has gone is much a mystery to us as it is to you.

Geoff Banks owns the largest firm of builders on the island and because of his council connections it is only inevitable that any official council or parish work would be awarded to him. The term cowboy was used by a member of the English Heritage and not by any of us we have not seen any of the work but are aware it was left largely unfinished and a lot of materials were not replaced like for like and because of this the conservations officer was none too happy. As with the churches, well they’re different to the council, they self fund their work and enforce a different criteria to any council so as to what level of works he does for them I do not know and can not comment. English Heritage have agreed and have gone public to agree that they will pay 50% towards the repair costs but not the restoration so they will only provide £150,000 if some one else come forward with the same amount of money to make the £3million and no if the house is sold off they will not honour this in any way.

The quote of £3million is just to repair the house the restoration would be another £3million on top of that and then a further £2million to up date the house to a modern standard with heating and wiring and plumbing. We were not trying to tell you anything different, the council are using the line that it is in the houses best interest to sell it off as a leasehold and we don’t feel that it is. Our first argument is that we want to know what they have spent our precept on and what was the £75,000 a year they claimed to have spent each year used for? If there is a council department in there using it as offices then shouldn’t they be expected to contribute as part of their budget. How can the say that the grounds up keep costs in excess of £80,000 a year? When the house was used for weddings, where did the money go for that? What have they been doing with our money and this house to allow it to fall in to such a bad sate of repair? We have so many questions and in stead of answers we just get more questions.

We are all very angry about this, it seems for too long our elected members have been allowed to get away with far too much for far too long. He have tried to ask the right people the right questions but all we get is stone walled and whitewashed. The last meeting was not publicised and we had no idea where or when it was other than the date and a call to the council didn’t tell us all much either. In respect to your last post, well no not all council meetings are public, it all depends on the committee and the type of meeting. In this case we had no idea what time or where the meeting was being held. And as for the ones in the past, you go on the IoW web site and try and find up and coming meetings on this matter then come back on here and post them.

Yes I agree that all the interested parties should speak publicly about their proposals, Nick Duffill has already done so to some extent and chef Robert Thompson does so at any given opportunity and it would seem the County Press want to shout about Viyella every chance they get so what about the others? Lets hear more from them.

I do agree with something you said, angry posts on here wont help, what will is bums on seats at the council meetings, full public galleries will say a lot more than posts on here.

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

At last someone other than myself wants to know where the money has gone!!

£80,000 on the grounds? This ain't Kew!

Something stinks and the people deserve answers!

Medina Man · Joined: 17 Dec 2009 Posts: 16

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

Does Medina Man really believe this?

The money has gone. Lets not cry over spilt milk as we are currently paying one of the lowest precept payments on the Island. I bet no other towns ask where their money has gone. Do you really miss it? No. It's not going to break the bank now is it?

The precept is I presume paid as part of the Council Tax that the Cowes people pay. This precept has been taken and not used for what it was intended for. The Island suffers with high unemployment and low wages. No doubt many Cowes residents are claiming Council Tax Benefit, as are many the Island over. Partly due to this the Council are looking at a 2.5% rise in the tax this year. How is this precept that is not being put towards it's intended use not helping to break the bank?
Maybe Medina Man would like to pay me the precept as he won't miss it.

iowjon · Joined: 15 Dec 2009 Posts: 5

Thank you, Admin, for intervening.

I am a Councillor not a politician (so I can admit to my mistakes); I accept that I was too harsh on the people of Cowes in an earlier posting for their complete absence at the 15th December Council meeting - dedicated to Northwood House. I apologise - though the meeting was mentioned in the previous Friday's County Press and its details were posted on the Council Notice Board below the Co-op. A call to the Town Clerk would also have proved fruitful for those who wanted to attend.

The new Cowes Town Council web-site (www.cowestowncouncil.org.uk) should be up within 7 days where the Minutes of this meeting will be available.

As with previous fora this forum has degenerated into a slanging match between 3 anonymous people - “Medina Man”, “Northwood People” and “Wight Portal” - one of whom is very clearly associated with a Trustee. It is also damning of a fellow Councillor.

So, unless you are prepared to append your name to your posting, I strongly suggest you resist any temptation to make any more contributions.

Jon Matthews