Recent media portrayals have depicted Sandown very negatively. We must, of course, not ignore the challenges of dereliction that affect some parts of our town, but this can become a narrow focus that overlooks Sandown’s stunning natural beauty, proud history and growing determination to rejuvenate one of the Isle of Wight’s best loved coastal destinations.
It is essential that we ask hard questions and face hard facts; if we fail to truly define the position we find ourselves in, then we cannot possibly chart a new and better course. However, sensationalist clickbait portrayals do not help and are a disservice to the people who call Sandown home and to the many working hard to bring about positive and lasting change. There is much to improve, but there is much to celebrate too.
The Town Council continues to invest in our world-class beach and its seafront amenities and services. There are better facilities in our parks, playgrounds and gardens, help for our amazing Green Towns Volunteers, support for the busy events programme and growing investment in Sandown’s exceptional sports facilities and venues. We have a successful youth service with a new youth centre about to open, and school projects that include the creation of new public art. There is a new and ambitious business association with plans and projects for investment and uplift already developing. All of this and more is being driven by the Bay Place Plan that the people of Sandown did so much to produce.
We all know that we face a legacy of dereliction, and that this has had an impact on the town and its reputation and on the lives of local residents. It is the consequence of criminal and vandal property ownership, of inexcusable and shameless neglect, and the stifling of real and credible opportunities for reconstruction. Our survey, capturing the lived experience of 2000 people, is providing exactly the robust and evidenced presentation that is now needed to leverage political attention and funding for recovery and repair. At the same time, the enhanced planning enforcement capability of the Town Council, in partnership with the Isle of Wight Council, continues to work patiently through the protracted legal reparations needed to reduce the risks of site trespass and build regulatory action against the worst offenders.
It is this combination of investing in what is already great about Sandown and doing the serious work to tackle what is not, that motivates the new Town Council. We will always stand up for our town, for your town, because we believe in Sandown.
