£7m push to bring more visitors, jobs and marine training to East Cowes
Isle of Wight Council is bidding for money from the government
A £7m bid is being made to reinstate East Cowes as a focus for the marine industry on the Isle of Wight.
Isle of Wight Council is looking for a slice of the £4.8bn levelling up fund, created by Chancellor Rishi Sunak.
The announcement was made at Wednesday's Isle of Wight Council cabinet meeting by the new leader, Cllr Lora Peacey-Wilcox.
While the fund is open to every authority in the UK, Mr Sunak said it is especially intended to support investment in places where it can make the biggest difference to everyday life, including ex-industrial areas, deprived towns and coastal communities.
The fund has been designed to regenerate town centres, high streets, upgrade local transport and invest in cultural and heritage assets.
New cabinet member for regeneration and business development, Cllr Julie Jones-Evans laid out the proposals, which will hopefully attract more visitors, jobs and training to the East Cowes area.
Having bought buildings and land at Venture Quays last year, the council is looking to bring more workspace online in the Columbine Building to create more jobs and provide improved marine side infrastructure.
A wide range of refit work is also proposed for the historic barrack building, which was used in filming BritBox drama The Beast Must Die.
Along the Esplanade, a public realm project is proposed, which Cllr Jones-Evans said could include a dramatic new harbour viewing platform.
Cllr Jones-Evans said: “Our proposal will help level up East Cowes and make it a major gateway for the rest of the island, wider Solent region and UK economy.”
Despite the Isle of Wight being ranked as the 80th most deprived local authority area in England (out of 317) by the 2019 Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government Indices of Deprivation — ranking 44th for employment and 65th for income deprivation — the Island has been given a category two priority status.
Category one represents the highest level of identified need with preference given to bids by the government from higher priority areas.
The prospectus for the Levelling Up Fund said bids from category two or three local authorities will still be considered for funding on their merits of deliverability, value for money and strategic fit, and ‘could still be successful if they are of exceptionally high quality’.
A letter with the bid is going to government tomorrow (Friday) and Cllr Peacey-Wilcox said the authority was teaming up with MP, Bob Seely, in trying to get the money.