From Richard Steele, Shorwell:

Last week I attended a meeting of the West Wight Regeneration workshop run by the Isle of Wight Council.

The meeting was held in the West Wight Sports and Community Centre. It struck me that this was a supreme irony.

Here the council was talking about regeneration yet it has abandoned a superb asset that already exists.

The West Wight Sports and Community Centre no longer receives any financial support from the Isle of Wight Council, all funding having stopped in 2016.

Without this funding it is not clear how this facility, that is a vital community project serving West Wight and a large area beyond can survive.

It has excellent facilities and a dedicated staff and team of volunteers, to many of the people that use it, the loss would would cut an essential lifeline.

The council appear to consider itself experts in the financial field, borrowing large amounts of money to invest in schemes that have nothing to do with the Isle of Wight and are happy to employ “experts” for vast sums of money.

Surely with all this expertise they can find the funds to continue to support the West Wight Sports and Community Centre, just as they support the facilities at Medina and The Heights.