Northwood House, Cowes

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

Jon the whole idea of a forum is anonymity, just because you decided to give up yours, thinking it would bring more strength to your argument, you can't expect others to do the same. If you're really interested in knowing who I am PM me with your email address and I'll tell you everything including my shoe size.

Whether anonymous or not the questions are the same:

Why has the property been allowed to rot?

Where's the money gone?

Isle of Wight Forum · **Posted:** 09-01-2010, 13:10 **Post subject:** Sponsored links

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iowjon · Joined: 15 Dec 2009 Posts: 5

jon.matthews@cowestowncouncil.org.uk

Northwood People · Joined: 10 Dec 2009 Posts: 9

Sorry i am not in anyway connected to the Northwood House Trust or any of its trustees, I know who they are and the work they do and have met 3 of them but other than that, if I was a trustee i would be pushing to have the chair removed.

As for the things i have said about Jeff Banks, I am only stating what others have said, nothing more.

And Medina man, i can not respond to your last post as i have no idea what you are on about or what point you are trying to make, it seems the only person that has not read any of the posts is you as you have made comments that really dont need to be made, and have no point at all.

Respond if you want to, but i will not waste any more of my time reading what you have to say as you seem to only read what you want to read from everyone elses

newcowesman · Joined: 07 Dec 2009 Posts: 18

There is an IWC cabinet meeting scheduled for Tuesday 19th January at 6pm - the relevany papers will be on the IWC website from Monday 11th January - when NH will be on the agenda. A full public gallery would show public concern.

Felix · Joined: 17 Dec 2009 Posts: 9

Medina Man and Northwood People!

I have read both your posts and don’t really understand why you are both in such a disagreement as you both seem to hit on the same points but from different angles, and I cant see how Northwood People could be accused as not reading your post Medina Man as they seem to have done their best to address your earlier post paragraph by paragraph. Please don’t get me wrong I am not attacking you or joining in with a public battle, I just want to try and stop this before it gets out of hand and the point to this thread is lost in malicious bickering from the people so keen to see this house saved. So if it is ok with you and the other readers of this forum, may I interject with some points I think you will find of great interest and points that will confirm a lot of what has been said before. We all feel the same about this house, lets not shout each other down, if you have point to make, make it and if someone makes a mistake then point that out tactfully, please don’t attack each other.

I have been watching this forum for some time and been very interested by some of the posts, quite a lot of them not far from the truth, I decided not to come forward as a lot of the points I could of made at the time were actually already being made. I am a retired chartered surveyor and I have lived in a house for a great number of years that backs onto Northwood Park. I worked for both town, parish and Island council, and have strong personal links with several council members and trustees of Northwood House. I am not a NIMBY (Not In My Back Yard) protestor, I like most people am very fond of the house and I a want to see it saved, but what I don’t want is some short sighted attempt by someone and the house lost along with the park.

It was my comments, although very true and learned from people directly connected to Northwood House that prompted Liz Mackenzie to lobby Cllr Mazillius to close the Northwood Village Forum as the truths I posted damaged her career. I did not post any untruth and these facts are available to any member of the public under the freedom of information act. I will choose my words very carefully on here to prevent the same action being taken.

After speaking with a number of people connected with the council it is believed that the current move by Cowes Town Council to take charge of the house, although on the surface does look quite promising, it is strongly believed by many people close to the situation including Town, Parish and IoW Councillors that it is a cleverly devised smoke screen. The same question that has been asked on here was asked by several people at the council, Why? Why now is the Town Council wanting to get involved? Yes like most members in both councils they are keen to see the house saved and put to good use, but how they have gone about it has caused a lot of concern and raised a number of conspiracy theories. Mainly because they took the steps to approach Nick Duffill and introduce him to the trust and show him round, that caused a lot of concern as they have not done so with any of the other parties that showed an interest in the house. Then not too long after they submit a paper requesting they take control of the deed from the IoW Council. If they had done things the other way around I doubt they would have been met with so much doubt and controversy but you all have to admit it does seem a little to coincidental to inspire confidence in their true motives.

I have read the paper and I do in all honesty think it is a good idea to take control of the deed, and would sincerely hope that there is no ulterior motive to this sudden move and I hope that the internal rumours I have been hearing are nothing more than rumours. The only issue I have is that there seems to be an emphasis on disposing of the house on a long lease and I can not see the logic in the way this is being handled. When the trust was formed it was done so as the means to see the house restored and saved, the question you must ask is what was the IoW Council hoping to achieve by handing over a dilapidated house over to a trust with no money? What can a trust with inexperienced members with no training, funding or free time hope to achieve? The time it has taken to this date for the trust to get established has dragged on far too long and it seems that the chair Liz Mackenzie is stalling the process at every opportunity in the name of what she calls due diligence, I have heard she is currently drawing up a business model? Why? what good will that do? The trust has no money, they have no benefactors and they can not trade, so their only hope is either a leasehold sale or some other option and if that is the case any business model she comes up with is totally irrelevant and the new leaseholder will have their own. If a long lease is granted, what is the need for the trust then? The leaseholder will be bound by the terms of their lease so will not need any governing by the trust and it will be in their own best interest to renovate the house to a profitable standard as soon as they can so what role will the trust have over a building they have leased away all rights too. The point to this is: the trust taking control of this house has gone on for what 6 years, 8 years now and it still seems no where near a date for full completion, it was meant to be the 1st January 2010 but now that has been moved back to ‘sometime’ this year. In all this time the house has continued to dilapidate further and is now in a state that it is unable to be used as a wedding venue, the houses only source of income. So as we wait for the trust to allow Liz Mackenzie to waste all the time the house falls down as we watch, and when they do take control they just hand it over for £1 and then what? What is the point?

It is strongly suspected that by taking control from the IoW Council they will be in a better position to apply to the charity commission to disband the trust and remove them from any legal claim or charge over it to allow them to amend the deed of gift and giving them more freedom to decide its future. The house is now in an unsafe condition and is no longer in a position to be used as a wedding venue, if matters are allowed to worsen then the Town Council will be better placed to argue that the trust has failed and should therefore be disbanded and full control and trust should be awarded back to the council.

How can they do this? The fact of the matter is that some members of the trust have been clearly underestimated and are more than capable of saving this house and should have been allowed to do so unhindered. It would seem the trusts take over is being stalled at every available opportunity and this will add fuel to the Town Councils claim that they have failed to act and save the house. Many very strongly believe that if the trust is disbanded Liz Mackenzie would not be seen without a future posting of some form as a reward for her cooperation. Whether this is true or not remains to be seen, but given that since her appointment matters have slowed to a halt, the matters of the trust are now shrouded in secrecy and her appointment onto the scrutiny committee concerns many. It is now said she plans to take the house to open market in the hope it will attract others, how long this will now take is anyone’s guess but what is certain that the longer it is allowed to continue the further the house falls into decline and it will come to the point when even the parties that are interested now will pull out as the restoration and repair costs will soon spiral beyond the realms of any profitable venture. As for the rise in the precept, well I have no objection to this, but if the house is to be passed on as a leasehold then would it not be the responsibility of the leasee to cover its costs and if so, what would the precept be used for then?

It should also be noted that the £3million figure quoted is just to repair the building as it was 3 years ago, this figure has since risen as there is now some structural collapse inside. On top of this you would have a further £4million for the restoration and another £3million to bring the house up to modern standards such as new wiring, plumbing, services and fire safety. There aren’t that many people in the current climate with £10million to spend on what is considered to be a relatively small house by most stately home standards.

All that anyone seems to be doing is create more questions, and no one seems willing to answer them. I suggest that we all try and attend the up and coming meeting, if this date changes I hope someone would be good enough to let us all know so we can make the arrangements.

One last thing I have spent the last few months looking into the 4 interested parties, I have built up a great deal of information and I fully intend to post that once my research is complete. I hope that it will shed a lot of light on the current matters and answer a few of the questions.

I know some of the above information has been said before, but it needs to be said again and spelt out so everyone is clear. We have to act and we can not allow our so called elected members to carry on running this island like a gentleman’s club.

Felix

Friendly · Joined: 09 Dec 2009 Posts: 15

We will post this every day until the meeting,

Tell everyone you know, spread the word, please attend

There is an IWC cabinet meeting scheduled for Tuesday 19th January at 6pm - the relevant papers will be on the IWC website from Monday 11th January - when NH will be on the agenda. A full public gallery would show support

Please do your best, it wil do more good than posting on here.

Thank you

iowjon · Joined: 15 Dec 2009 Posts: 5

I think you'll find that "Northwood House" has slipped from the 19th January IW Council Cabinet meeting and is currently tabled for the February meeting...

Jon Matthews

Medina Man · Joined: 17 Dec 2009 Posts: 16

Medina Man · Joined: 17 Dec 2009 Posts: 16

Medina Man · Joined: 17 Dec 2009 Posts: 16

HELLO?!?!?!?!

ANYTHING, ANYONE?

Or have we all just gone to sleep. What the HELL is going on? One minute we are making progress with councils talking to eachother and planning to actually do something, now we have nothing?

What is happening at the IOW meeting?

When are Cowes Council meeting again to get Northwood House saved?

Or are we just waiting for it to fall down, because it is, right now. The bar has now been shut much to my surprise when I visited earlier this week, due to "movement" in the ceiling. If you are unsure what this means, It will probably fall down sometime in the near future.

WHERE HAVE ALL THE VOICES GONE?????????

Friendly · Joined: 09 Dec 2009 Posts: 15

yes it has gone a bit quiet hasn't it. We are pushing to learn more and find out when the next meeting is if it hasn't already been and gone, I spoke with a few other fellow posters on here, they do have some items to post but are away on holiday at the moment so will do so when they get back.

I was hoping to hear more from Felix.....

Northwood People · Joined: 10 Dec 2009 Posts: 9

We can now confirm that Liz Mackenzie has stepped down as chair of the Northwood House Trust.

Ann Thwaites has taken over as Chair

We think this is great news.

Finally the trust is in a great position to finally move forward.

Yes this subject has gone quiet but due to the fact that this subject has been dropped from the councils agenda there is not much to report on.

Lets Hope Felix has more to say on this subject

Friendly · Joined: 09 Dec 2009 Posts: 15

DING DONG THE WITCH IS GONE

That is great news, maybe now things can move along a lot quicker.

I know my opening line might seem a little hard on Liz Mackenzie but I really did feel (and so did everyone else) that it was her back tracking and career goals that was adding to the delays in resolving a future for this house.

I also hear and I dont know if it is true but Cowes Town Council has decided not push with its proposal to take charge of the deed, maybe someone on here might know more about this???????

So what now? I guess Ann will already be up to speed with matters of the house, so we just need to council to add it the next agenda of the up and coming meeting on the 30th March.

I have been on the council web site and so far no agenda has been published so lets hope something will be done this time

cowes lady · Joined: 07 Mar 2010 Posts: 3

Wanting to book a family gathering in Northwood House I went to the I.W.Council website to find thet ALL future bookings are cancelled.On asking a friend connected to the Trustees aparently the house is still bookable for 'Coffee & biscuit' functions but none with the bar untill safety of the bar ceiling canbe confirmed,the Community Hall is stillfully bookable .Is the Council trying to prove Northwood House is not wanted and can't pay by blocking all bookings ?

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

Unless you want to wear hard hats, the Council are right to stop bookings.

The whole situation is a debacle and if not sorted soon, bulldozing the place will be the only option.