The Ashlar Proposed Housing Estate - Ningwood - a last minute change?

Today a letter was posted on the Isle of Wight Council's Planning website concerning the proposed Ashlar Housing estate next to the Shalfleet school.  Please click on the link to the right side of this post to view.  At the time of writing I don't know what the consequences will be, if anyone has any views or information, please leave a comment or contact me.

The future of bus route 7 is being looked into by Southern Vectis

The future of bus route 7 is being looked into by Southern Vectis, who are carrying out a survey at https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/Route7survey  Survey Monkey is well respected and the website is safe and secure.  You can also use the Facebook link supplied by Southern Vectis, but some people avoid Facebook so this is the direct link.

Southern Vectis is looking at ways it can improve the bus service on Route 7. Your answers will help us shape... http://t.co/H7cjhYkLAy
— Southern Vectis (@SouthernVectis) January 30, 2014

You can discuss Route 7 here using the comments box (you don't need to register to leave comments here) but please do the survey which affects all of us here in the Parish of Shalfleet.

The impact would be far wider than Shalfleet - there is also a potential effect on the Wightlink Lymington-Yarmouth ferry and of course the consequential effect on other ferry routes and operators.

I'm emailing this to the Clerk to Shalfleet Parish Council, Mrs Susannah Jennings, for information.  Maybe it'll appear on the agenda of the Parish Council meeting on 12th February.

For the time being(?) Route 7 is not passing through Thorley or Wellow.  I don't have any other details but don't stand waiting for the bus!

A big thank you to Andrew Turner....

It came as a surprise to get phone call from Andrew Turner's office to tell us that we'd won seats on Andrew's prize draw for a coach trip to the Houses of Parliament on Monday.  There were fifty of us in all, hostessed by Laura from Andrew's office. 

Andrew welcomed us on arrival and saw us off before we left, and made time to us to talk one-to-one under the centuries-old wooden roof of Westminster Hall.  Thank you Andrew, and Laura. I'm sure that everyone enjoyed themselves judging from the appreciative comments we heard on the way home.  A day to remember.

If you were Lord of the Island, what would you do to improve the Island economy?

Imagine you were Lord of the Island, with more or less unfettered powers to encourage investment, training, motivate, improve balance of payments, and improve life for Island residents.  What would you do?   Please no personal attacks and if you are unhappy with any status quo, give us an alternative!

Ward/Parish Planning Applications 24/1/14

Friday is the publication day for all planning applications.  You can see them posted on your local parish or council notice boards and on the Isle of Wight Council website at http://www.iwight.com/planning/planAppSearch.aspx Today there is only one new application for the entire West Wight ward and nothing in the Parish.  That's for The Linney Tapnell Farm Newport Road Yarmouth Isle Of Wight PO410YJ where they are applying for "Alterations extension to and conversion of building to form 2 units of holiday accommodation parking".  Every Friday (usually from 2345 on Thursday) new applications are posted to the council link above.

Comments/discussion welcome here, but this is NOT the way to make a formal comment.

Follow the scrutiny debate on Twitter and discuss here

Interesting discussions going on tonight.....some blue-sky thinking for us all and a chance to discuss

Too many houses causes flooding, says Island MP, must amend Island Plan

The Blogger has come to Shalfleet!

Here's a nice comfy place to share news, views and information with others from the Parish of Shalfleet (on the beautiful Isle of Wight).  We'll be adding a list of information as soon as possible.  For those not familiar with 'blogging', the idea is that we post some kind of article or 'post' (this is one such) and anyone can add their comments.  On this blog anyone can write a short item, email it to the blog (will explain how later) and we will post it as a new item either under a pseudonym or your real name.

Groundrules:  This is a family-safe blog, please no bad language and no personal attacks.    We've set comments to 'unmoderated' which means that yours will appear instantly.  That means that if you post you take responsibility for what you write though if something inappropriate is drawn to our attention we'll remove it.  Commonsense really, but has to be said.

There are loads of people in our parish who have mobility problems and can't get out as often as they'd like to meet others and chat about local issues.  Many can manage basic email and simple browsing but think the 'blogosphere' is something from Star Trek.  If you know someone like that, can you spare a little time to help them set it up and learn to use it so they can join in too?

The Betterferry Campaign

I guess everyone is aware of the Betterferry campaign?  http://www.betterferrycampaign.co.uk/   Not too many details have been published so far so I ask here what you personally would be looking for in a 'better' ferry service?  Leave your comments and views here  but in particular, what is it that YOU and your family/business would be looking for, leaving aside what you think others would like?