Paul Fuller
Independent Isle of Wight Councillor
for Cowes West and Gurnard.
ANNUAL
REPORT No.15: 2023 - 2024.
Please contact me:
By
Post to: 45 Oxford Street, Cowes, Isle
of Wight. PO31 8PT.
Telephone: 01983 289595 (24 hours)/ 07 935 090 835 (Mobile & Text); Email:
paulfulleriw@gmail.com
Visits and Surgeries.
Please do not hesitate to contact me.
I’m always happy to meet at a time and place convenient to you.
I hold regular surgeries/ drop-in’s. No
appointment is necessary. These normally take place each month at:
·
1st Monday of the month, 4:30-5pm at Cowes Library,
Beckford Road, Cowes.
·
1st Tuesday of the month, 5:30-6pm at the Isle of
Wight Community Club, Park Road, Cowes.
·
1st Thursday of the month, 10:30-11am at Gurnard
Press and Bistro, Worsley Road, Gurnard.
·
2nd Tuesday of the month, 3-4pm Northwood Village Hall,
Newport Road, Northwood.
·
2nd Wednesday of the month, 5:30-6pm, The Portland,
Worsley Road, Gurnard.
·
3rd Wednesday of the month, 10:30-11am, Benches adj.
to the Watersedge Kiosk, Shore Road, Gurnard.
·
3rd Wednesday of the month, 11-11:45am, The Woodvale,
Princes Esplanade, Gurnard.
·
4th Thursday of the month, 10:30-11am, Coffee &
Chat, All Saints Church, Tuttons Hill Gurnard.
·
Last Wednesday of the month 5:30-6pm, The Portland, Worsley
Road, Gurnard.
·
Last Thursday of the month 11:30-12:30pm, Eegons Café, 85 High
Street, Cowes.
Please
visit https://paulfullercc.blogspot.com for updates, monthly reports and confirmed
details of surgeries.
The
nine Issues which I promised to address prior to my re-election in 2021.
·
You said: Significantly
reducing the annual housing figure from 1045.
·
I did: Within the Draft Island
Planning Strategy (DIPS), I support significantly reducing the number to 453. This figure is 1/3 lower than current
Government’s annual housing allocation figure for the Island of 730.
·
You said: Prioritising
Local Housing for Local People
·
I did: Within the DIPS
policies are prioritised to deliver affordable housing for local residents
(Policy H5}. This remains a corporate priority for the Alliance Administration.
The DIPs will be considered by IW Councillors on 1st May.
·
You said: Support
Working Families.
·
I did: Support increased help
for working families through Council Tax concessions from 65% support to 70%
·
You said: Support safety
outside schools.
·
I did: New Traffic Regulation
Orders were implemented as a result by the IW Council outside local schools.
·
You said: Scrap
proposals to charge for car parking on Cowes/ Gurnard seafront.
·
I did: No ifs, no buts, no
woolly compromises. These were scrapped
within days by the Alliance Administration.
·
You said: Improve access
to Town Centres and review car parking.
·
I did: Ongoing supported
action of Cowes Place Plan for Town Centre regeneration. I supported the
campaign to freeze car parking for 2024/5 and campaigns with Parish Council
pilots offering Free Parking across the Island.
·
You said: Supporting an
IW Council that listens, is inclusive and acts on feedback.
·
I did: Supported new Parish
Council involvement at Scrutiny and within Planning. I support greater involvement for all IW
Councillors within a Committee system, led and enacted feedback on a number of
public facing consultations.
·
You said: Review Council
Tax Expenditure
·
I did: Scrutinise, challenge
and consult on Council Tax. On this, I have shared and responded to resident’s
concerns.
·
You said: Ensure
Government supports the extra costs needed to support the Isle of Wight.
·
I did: The Council continues
to campaign for its promised Island Deal.
Although the Alliance achieved small wins this has not gone far enough
or addresses the cost (+£10m per year)) for Island residents by our severance
by sea.
Representing our Community in County
Hall, rather than County Hall in our Community:
This is my 15th
Annual Report as Councillor for Cowes West and Gurnard.
I have been ward
Councillor for Cowes West and Gurnard since 2009, and as a Isle of Wight
Councillor this is my sixth term of office, since being first elected as an
Isle of Wight Councillor for Ryde in 1995.
As an Independent,
I continue putting the needs of our Cowes and Gurnard community first.
As an Independent,
having no activists, no sponsors, no political party line, or leader shadowing
me, my loyalty to represent every resident in Gurnard and Cowes is absolute.
Within my role, I’m
committed to being a transparent, hardworking, effective and enthusiastic
councillor.
If you feel that I,
or the Councils where I represent your views get things wrong, please tell me.
Unless I am made aware, I’m not in a position to listen, ask questions, put
things right and fight on your behalf!
If I cannot achieve the outcomes you desire, I will explain why.
Campaigning to
protect vital services, I am committed to ensure our Councils say yes, rather
than no. It remains in the forefront of my mind that I am only here because you
re-elect me. As Councillor my priority is simply to put our community first.
I do this because I
thoroughly love it! Because I enjoy my
‘work’, I hope that it shows and I achieve the very best outcomes possible for
residents.
Monthly Reports.
Each month I write
a report. These provide regular updates
of my work, and can be found at Cowes Library.
Reports are edited
for the Gurnard News, the Cowes Magazine and The Beacon. My Full Monthly Reports can be found on my
website at: https://paulfullercc.blogspot.com. Each month provides details of between 30-50
items which I am dealing with, alongside matters which are of importance.
Organisations
and Outside Bodies that I am a member and support:
·
Cowes Town Council. Town Councillor for Cowes North
2001-2005; from 2009- ; Mayor
2017-2019;
·
Gurnard Parish Council. Councillor
from 2005; Chairman from 2022;
·
Northwood Parish
Councillor. Founding member of Northwood Parish Council. Councillor since 2007;
·
Local Access Forum. Chairman (2020- ). This statutory body oversees Rights of
Ways matters. The Forum works closely with landowners and user groups to
improve access to the right of way network. Since 2019, I have been actively
working on the Isle of Wight section of the English Coastal Path.
·
Footprint Trust. The
Trust supports lifting residents (often vulnerable) out of fuel poverty
·
Southern Inshore Fisheries and Conservation
Authority (SIFCA). Vice-Chairman.
Funded by DEFRA and local authorities, SIFCA regulates marine conservation and
fisheries for Hampshire, Dorset and the Isle of Wight.
·
Solent Forum. This
organisation oversees Economic and Environmental challenges within the Solent.
·
Isle of Wight Natural
Landscape. This group
oversees challenges faced to the Isle of Wight’s Countryside.
·
IW Council Local
Pensions Board. This body
is an external body that monitors the £750m IWC pension fund.
I
am a longstanding Justice of the Peace serving
the Isle of Wight Adult and Youth courts
since 2001.
Within
the Isle of Wight Council, I am
current cabinet member for Planning, Coastal Protection and Flooding. As a
Councillor with cabinet responsibilities I have overview on all aspects of the
Council’s activities.
|
One
year in numbers. As your Councillor: ·
I
am contactable 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year. ·
I
work between 40 and 65 hours each week. ·
I
attended 306 meetings associated with my role. ·
In
addition, I’ve attended 41 informal/ associated meetings, events, briefings,
exhibitions & site visits. ·
I
attended 42 Isle of Wight Council Meetings. ·
I’ve
received 4188 emails, 993 telephone calls, 662 texts and 5 letters. I aim to
respond within 3 days and attempt to prioritise calls from Cowes West and
Gurnard residents within 12 hours of receipt. ·
I’ve
resolved/ relayed 1905 enquiries. 34% of these relate to Gurnard residents; 26%
to Cowes West residents; 15% from other Cowes/ Northwood residents and 15% to
residents living elsewhere. ·
In
the last year I’ve arranged 100 surgeries. Supporting 390 enquiries to
completion for residents. ·
This
year I received a Councillors Allowance of: £18,128.70 |
IW Councillors Report.
As Councillor for Cowes West
and Gurnard, I remain on call at all times, much of the work that I have
followed up is reported in my monthly reports.
These can be found here: https://paulfullercc.blogspot.com and go
into detail on support given and actions taken.
With finance becoming tighter
for residents, it becomes more and more challenging to provide the help,
assistance and support that residents need and deserve. Having dealt with hundreds of issues over
the last 12 months, it is difficult to quantify those issues that are the most
relevant- as different people have different priorities.
As an Isle of Wight Councillor,
the Town and Parish Councillors of Cowes, Gurnard and Northwood act as my eyes
and ears and I really appreciate the support that they provide for our
communities.
One of the biggest concerns
raised continues to be that of anti-social parking. On this count, I have addressed parking
concerns outside our local schools, the abuse of disabled bays, speeding
traffic, updating traffic orders and concerns over when Newport Road is closed
due to road works.
In addition, road resurfacing
for many streets remain a priority.
Particularly for Worsley Road in Gurnard and Crossfield Avenue in Cowes.
Local planning complaints
continue to keep me busy, whether it is regarding planning enforcement or with
new applications which if not resolved from the get-go can adversely impact
upon residents lives. Also of concern is
the matter of the lack of social housing as well as what is allowed under
permitted development rights. What I
continue to ask is that those wishing to make changes to their property to
please first speak to your neighbours
Other priorities that I attempt
to support residents with are neighbourhood disputes. A number of residents have approached me over
the last year about concerns which on occasions can be very difficult to
address at a later stage.. Although I
always will try to do my very best to assist.
Annual Report as Cabinet Member for
Planning, Coastal Protection and Flooding
Planning
and Planning Enforcement.
The
main priority for the past year, was to receive Councillor’s support for the
Draft Island Planning Strategy (DIPS) and discussions have continued with Full
Council, Strategy committees, individual members, and stakeholders. As
a result of the feedback, amendments were made to the wording of the DIPS with several
Supplementary Planning Documents created in the past year. To note, The
Draft IPS mirrors Government commitments within the Levelling Up Act for truly
Island affordable housing and allows the IW Council to enact deeper discounts
for Island residents.
By
working with Town, Parish and Community Councils our Planning Enforcement
activity has been strengthened and more cases are being pursued. I’m
grateful to local councils of Newport, Ryde and Sandown for their support
Coastal Protection and
Flooding.
Elsewhere,
last year I took responsibility for Flooding and Coastal Protection. With respect to Autumn and Winter storms
this saw closer liaison with Cllr Lucioni (member responsible for Emergency
Planning) on the impact Flooding had before Christmas, particularly in Ryde,
but also in Newport, East Cowes, Cowes, Yarmouth and at Binstead where I have
met residents and businesses impacted by the distress of flooding.
The
saturation of land and associated movements of a large amount of water has significantly
impacted on our vulnerable coastline with major landslips taking place recently
at Bonchurch and St Lawrence. In these communities and elsewhere
ground movement continues to be monitored with regular updates provided to
residents, communities, councillors, and stakeholders. I am working across the
council to ensure the disruption caused by these events is kept to a minimum,
which includes safeguarding our highway and footpath networks.
Elsewhere,
within Coastal Protection sea
defences continue to be re-enforced and strengthened, with £4m of grant aided
work continuing at Ventnor’s eastern esplanade. Future projects
being prioritised are schemes for Yaverland/ Brading Harbour, Totland and
Shanklin.
Town,
Parish and Community Council Liaison.
In
the meantime, within my portfolio there continues to be support for Town,
Parish and Community Councils who in many cases have stepped up to support the
sharing services with the Isle of Wight Council. This has proven to be
beneficial, with discretionary valued services being threatened with loss
without our local councils offers of support.
My grateful thanks and appreciation to those Councils.
Gurnard Parish Council Report:
Chairman’s Report.
As Chairman, I
would like to thank all of our Councillors for their ongoing support to our
community and village life. Our
Councillors go above and beyond attending meetings, and are often at the
forefront of village activities and feedback from our local community.
I would like to
also like to thank Richard our new clerk who joined us in 2023. From my perspective Richard has excelled in
his role, and I consider the Council to be blessed to have Richard as part of our
team.
In addition, it
goes without saying the importance of
our village community and their tenacity in their support to make Gurnard even
better. Some of the headline events for
the Parish Council were as follows:
·
A
number of Committees have remained active in the last year, these include the
Parish Council’s Beach Working Party, The Old School Meadow Working Party and
the Gurnard Playground Committee.
·
Bert
Jupe planted the ‘Queen’s Canopy’ Tree on Pond Green in Lower Church Road.
·
Gurnard
Parish Council has increased its grant to the Gurnard News to £600. This is due to the importance of the magazine
in sharing information to local residents.
·
A
very big thank you to those who attend Village Tidy Up’s. Thank you to Cllr
Acton and Cllr Bugden for organising these events. Also thank you to the lovely
Gary and Debbie from Plaza Ice Cream and Kim from the Portland Inn for their sponsorship
·
The Parish Council re-tendered Ground Maintenance contract
for the Meadow as well as the cleaning contract for the village Green Toilets.
·
Free
Water Butts were provided by Southern Water in roads where issues had arisen
regarding surface water.
·
Many thanks to Cllr Mark Franklin for his efforts with our
clerk Richard Shaul to update the parish website.
·
Cllr
Franklin updated the Parish Council’s Website.
·
Richard
Shaul was formally appointed as Gurnard Parish Council’s Parish Clerk.
·
Parish
Councillors were invited to a site visit to the new development in Place Road. The purpose of the visit was to see new
homes, and discuss access issues to the intended Country Park and its impact.
·
Additional
cuts to Old School Meadow were actioned by the Parish Council
·
Initial
repairs were undertaken by Parks & Beaches to hold back slippage of Gurnard
Green towards the Beach Huts.
·
Repairs
were (eventually) undertaken to replace the seat to the disabled toilet
following vandalism.
·
Letterdrops
and a public meeting followed regarding a hybrid Planning Application off
Cordelia Garden. This application was
approved following consideration by the Planning Committee.
·
As
Isle of Wight Councillor, it was a privilege to join Gurnard Parish Vice Chair
Cllr Penny Acton to lay wreaths at Gurnard’s Service of Remembrance. A big thank you to the families and all
involved a lovely poignant service!
·
The
landowner of Spencer’s Copse agreed to include the dog-legged right of way as
part of the IW Coastal Path.
·
Gurnard
Parish Council are seeking feedback on both maintenance and upgrading the play
area on Gurnard Green. The Council are currently seeking a new shelter, a roundabout
and a new swing and has money ring-fenced for maintenance and upgrading.
·
The
Parish Council at its last meeting sought to update future requests from
developer contributions for the Gurnard community. As such these priorities are improving mobility
access to shops, businesses and public transport; Improved access and frequency
of buses; Improved access to footpaths and beaches; Enhancement of Play
Equipment; Footpath access to Northwood from The Range; Support of Local
Cycling Walking Infrastructure Plans (LCWIPS) and improvements to road safety
at Gurnard Primary School.
·
A
meeting was set up with a resident who has made suggestions for the swimming
pool at Gurnard Pines.
·
Myself
and Cllr Acton attended all meetings of IWALC throughout the year. In respect to IWALC, a number of briefings,
training sessions and updates were provided to both Councillors and our clerk.
·
Following
an extra hard push from the Parish Council (especially Clerk, Richard Shaul and
Cllr Terry Nolan), the former Putting area
of Gurnard Green was formally adopted as having Village Green Status.
·
Gurnard
Parish Councillors agreed to freeze the parish precept for a second year. The reason for doing this is due to the fact
Councillors believe that future projects can be funded without raising Tax
further.
·
With
Cllr Acton, I attended a meeting with residents hopeful of setting up a
Community Agriculture Group.
·
Views
expressed by the Parish Council to the Salty Siren Street Trading License were
shared with the Council’s Licensing Committee. Following concerns raised
regarding noise from the generator, the application was approved as noise
complaints were dismissed by Environmental Health. This will continue to be
monitored.
·
I’ve
spoken to the retailer at the Watersedge kiosk which opened last month. I am
advised that the kiosk will continue trading until such time as the site is
sold. Together we discussed the upkeep of Rosie’s bench to make sure that this
continues to be looked after and old flowers/ paraphernalia are taken away and
not left unsightly.
·
In the
last year seven planning enforcement matters were taken up following resident
feedback
·
In the
past year a number of projects were followed up by the Old School Working
Meadow. These include the relocation of seating and ongoing repairs to fencing.
