Ventnor Blog

You might remember a couple of weeks ago that we reported a positive response by the Council to complaints of the stink from seaweed trapped in Ventnor Haven.

Damieon Phillips, Operations Harbour Master has been in touch today to give us some more detail on the plans for the removal of excess seaweed from the Haven, which takes place this coming Sunday.

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The Island police have sent us this appeal to help with the knocking down of a cyclist on the Ashey Road near Ryde - Ed.

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After our call out this morning for your positive stories about the Council, many thanks to John Allen for being the first to respond. Since his email came in a couple of comments have been added to the original posting.

Many Ventnorians have been aware of the pretty whiffy stink coming from the Haven of late. In fact it’s been the subject of several discussion threads on the forum. Although the smell has, at times, been remarkably similar to sewage, rest assured it just rotting seaweed - we wouldn’t have the Blue Flag if it were. (more…)

Just to show how fast news can move, IW Radio carried some updated news about Motorbike testing on the Island this morning.

In fact the top story they ran at 8am was saying that there would be a motorbike testing centre opening on the Island.

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We always try to keep one eye open for what the Island’s MP, Andrew Turner, is up to in the House of Commons.

He’s frequently fighting the corner for the Isle of Wight and it’s inhabitants. This week is no exception.

Due to new Europe-wide legislation, the way that the motorcycle tests are carried out in the future will need to change. Sadly the Island is coming off pretty badly.

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Anyone planning on going to the Festival this weekend, the message coming out from Hampshire Constabulary is loud and clear.

NO DRUGS PLEASE.

The drugs detection dogs will be back on the main gates and officers will search anyone suspected of being in possession of drugs.

We’re told by the police that … (more…)

We’re not ones for spreading fear amongst a community, but having just seen this press release from the fuzz, we thought it best to inform you about potential some dodgy cold callers doing the rounds in Ventnor and Newport. Ed

Police on the Isle of Wight are offering advice to homeowners after receiving reports of a suspicious salesman cold-calling at homes across the Island.
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ISLE of Wight Council, the Island’s police and the Isle of Wight NHS Primary Care Trust are joining forces to promote a safe drinking message on the Isle of Wight as part of Alcohol Awareness Week. (more…)

Our good friends over at News Biscuit have alerted us to celebrations taking place today to commemorate the 1958 great string shortage.

As a finale to the Easter celebrations, residents of the Isle of Wight are putting finishing touches to preparations for the 50th anniversary of the great string shortage of 1958, when supplies of string almost ran out, leaving local traders in danger of having no means of securing their brown paper parcels.

Read the article in full.

Some people call it nosey neighbours, others a strong community spirit. Whatever name you give to it, the South Wight Safer Neighbourhoods Team is hoping that many more people will embrace the new Neighbourhood Watch Schemes which are due to be launched soon. Ed

Neighbourhood Watch is all about an active partnership with the police, schemes can:
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Not sure if you’d caught up with the changes happening to issuing car parking tickets in the UK, which come into law from 31 March.

You may have heard that one of the changes is that the parking attendants no longer have to put the parking tickets on the windscreen of the car for it to become officially issued.
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Latest news just in from the fuzz is an appeal for residents of all ages to volunteer to become part of a committee whose aim will be to spruce up the Simeon Street Recreation Ground.

It is an area that the community have highlighted as needing improvement, so PCSO Ralphs is working hard to try and pull together a group of people who can help make this happen. (more…)

It’s with sadness that we receive the following police press release - and it was done on valentines day too. Ed

Officers are appealing for information following an incident of criminal damage at Robin Hill, Arreton.

Sometime between 6pm on Thursday, 14 February and 7.10am on Friday, February 15 a group of offenders caused considerable damage to the country park.
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Yes, that’s right, Island Band, The Kurves will be doing a gig to inmates at Camp Hill Prison next month as part of a fund raising event for the Earl Mountbatten Hospice.

The County Press will be sponsoring the event where The Kurves will be playing a one hour gig on the 12th February.
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Ello, ello, ello, what’s all this we’ve got goin’ on ‘ere then?

Hampshire police have started producing podcasts, cleverly named Plodcasts.

The first Plodcast has just been released and covers Smartwater (a new one to us) which is being used to mark people’s possessions to make the easier to recover if they suffer from a burglary.

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Following an initial call yesterday, today we got to speak to the licensing department at the council about the granting of the alcohol license to SLV (ex-TC) News. Below is what we learned, which could be of use if anyone wants to raise objections to future applications.

There are only four areas of objection that are taken into consideration as legitimate concerns for license applications
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We’ve heard via the forum that TC News, or SLV News as it is now officially known, _has_ been granted a license to sell alcohol despite local opposition.

In a meeting at 10am this morning at County Hall, the council officials found no reason to not grant the license.

Many locals had been concerned that another outlet for alcohol in Ventnor wasn’t going to help with reducing alcohol related problems.
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We came across an interesting article by Dan O’Neill in the South Wales Echo yesterday.

We remember hearing something about this a while ago, so it may not be news to some of you, but apparently …
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Each week, we receive many press releases from the Police, we don’t always feel they are relevant to our readers, however, this one is an exception. Please read on and if you have any info, get in touch on the numbers below.

Witnesses are being sought by officers from the Shanklin Roads Policing Unit after a pedal cyclist was seriously injured near Blackwater.
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You may’ve heard about the recent claim from an Albany prison inmate, that his civil liberties were breached when he had to slop out his toilet. This is a claim from someone who sexually assaulted his victim as they were dying. We’ve received the following press release from Island MP Andrew Turner, who had this to say. If you have a comment to add, why not pop over to the forum and have your say.

The Island’s MP Andrew Turner has described as ‘absolute madness’ the idea that a prisoner should be awarded legal aid to pursue a compensation claim because he had to ’slop out’ following a breakdown of the night sanitation system in Albany prison.
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Two people in Newport, Isle of Wight have been arrested and bailed over an alleged copyright infringement.

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