Cllr Toby Wilcock - Sandown South

The Bay youth project this summer has numerous free activities for those aged 10-18, living and/or educated in Sandown, Lake and Shanklin

LAST CALL - 7PM TONIGHT - at the Broadway centre - even if you have not got involved over the last three days..its not too late to come and see / hear the what has come out of the process and is likley to be in the Place Plan...and you can still have your say / comments included.

Press Release

SANDOWN BEACH TO FLY BLUE FLAG AND SEASIDE AWARD WITH PRIDE THIS SUMMER (KEEP BRITAIN TIDY NEWS RELEASE)

Awards recognise and celebrate country’s best beaches as international Blue Flag celebrates its 36th year.

Environmental charity Keep Britain Tidy has today announced the winners of the prestigious Blue Flag and Seaside Awards for summer 2023, and among them Sandown beach. This year Sandown has again met the high standard required to be awarded the Blue Flag and Seaside Award.

Sandown Mayor Alex Lightfoot said ‘The Blue Flag reflects the investment the Town has made to provide Beach Lifeguards, installing Buoys in the Bay, a new Public Toilet at Eastern Gardens, as well as working with Sandown & Shanklin Independent Lifeboat – this is very much a team effort.’

Isle of Wight High Sheriff Dawn Haig-Thomas added “Visitors to a beach flying a Blue Flag or Seaside Award can be assured the beach will be clean, safe and meet the highest environmental standards, as well as international bathing water quality standards. Many congratulations to Sandown for achieving both."
Keep Britain Tidy’s Chief Executive, Allison Ogden-Newton OBE said: “The Blue Flag is the world’s most recognised award for beaches and marinas and, to qualify, each applicant must meet and maintain a series of stringent environmental, educational, safety and accessibility criteria.

“We’d therefore like to recognise and applaud all those who have worked so hard to protect and improve some of our best-loved and most popular beaches. The collective efforts of beach managers, volunteers, residents and businesses all contribute to the success of these sites in achieving the incredibly high standards demanded.”

The Blue Flag and Seaside Awards are aimed at improving the quality of England’s coastline and promoting the country’s best beaches.

Blue Flag is an international award managed by Keep Britain Tidy on behalf of the Foundation for Environmental Education. It is only presented to well-managed beaches with water quality defined as ‘excellent’ under the EU Bathing Water Directive and environmental education programmes, while Seaside Awards are presented to the best beaches in England and celebrate the quality and diversity of our coastline.

Among the criteria beaches are assessed against are:
- Safety and services, such as first aid, lifeguards where necessary
- Environmental information including displaying details about local eco systems
- Water quality – Blue Flag beaches must meet the ‘excellent’ water quality standard as set out in the EU bathing water directive and Seaside Award winners must meet the 'sufficient’ standard.
- Environmental management, including litter and waste.

Date for your diary - Grants of between £1k to £25k coming soon from HIWCF website from 10th JANUARY 2022 - the Charles Burnett Memorial Fund will be supporting animal welfare, the wellbeing of servicemen/women, the environment, medicine and science, heritage, education, community cohesion and welfare issues. Grants are available for registered charities and not for profits across Hampshire and the Isle of Wight, but particularly for the New Forest area.
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https://www.hiwcf.org.uk/grant-funding-of-1000-25000-coming-soon/

Council supports food and activity schemes for island children this Christmas
https://iow-newsroom.prgloo.com/news/council-supports-food-and-activity-schemes-this-christmas

Council supports food and activity schemes this Christmas News from the Isle of Wight

I wanted to thank the kind people of Sandown South for electing me to the local council.
I would also like to say congratulations to all the other successful candidates, I hope we can all pull together despite any differences to start making Sandown a great place to live.
Also commiserations to all those unsuccessful, particularly Pauline Evans who my heart goes out to for the way her campaign ended.
I was going to post last night but suddenly it didn’t feel appropriate to take up space on social media that we were all in sandown following to see the terrible events unfold at the Ocean Hotel. Such a sad ending for one of the most historic and stunning buildings in Sandown. I truly hope this was not a deliberate act of vandalism, we will need to work with the Isle of Wight Council and new owners to ensure this does not end up as an eyesore for years.
In other areas i think things are looking up for Sandown, Browns is soon to re open, a new wine bar and a new restaurant too in the high street. This summer should be a real lift to businesses in sandown as many people are still likely to choose a UK break rather than venture abroad, I really hope that will put a lot of sandown businesses in good steed for getting life back to normal, whilst also encouraging more entrepreneurs to the town as I believe this will aid the regeneration of Sandown. I’m keen to support any local business plans and ideas as I can to help Sandown start to thrive again.
Anyway thank you again for electing me, I will do the very best I can for Sandown.

The day is finally here, I would like to offer the best of luck to all candidates running for Sandown Town Council. On a personal note I would like to thank everyone who has supported me throughout this, regardless of the outcome this has been a steep learning curve for me whilst also a valuable experience. I do really hope to be given the opportunity to make a difference to the town I live in, however, whether I am elected or not, there are some excellent candidates out there who no doubt can truly make a difference to our town.

Apologies that I could not attend last night's hustings organised by Chris Cook, I couldn't attend due to work commitments.

Now having watched the hustings, I am pleased to see healthy debate amongst candidates, and to understand each of their greater ideas.

Sandown has quickly became what is known locally as an 'eye sore', having grown up in Sandown this upsets me greatly, therefore, I feel that a top priority for Sandown is to improve its appearance and attractiveness as quickly and as cost effective as possible. I would like to see both the sea front and the high street, be the best it can be, by listening and working with others to see what we can do about turning this around. Ensuring our facilities such as toilets are fit for purpose is essential, to both residents and tourists. Having seen several ideas such as beach volleyball courts and potential swimming lanes these are the types of activities I want to get behind and support.

My next priority is to look into what options there are to reintroduce facilities for younger people. I do believe some of the anti-social behaviour we see within our town, is down to the lack of activities and facilities provided to the younger generation. This consists of looking into the reopening of our youth club, possible free gym timing for young Sandown residents, I want to look at all options which will give our youth more to do in Sandown.

Currently I feel Sandown is falling short of being considered a safe town. Within the previous month we have had several cases of armed police, and much of anti social behaviour, within certain pockets of Sandown. For both young families and elderly residents this is a frightening truth. I am keen to work with local police, and other elected members of Sandown town council to resolve the issues we are all facing.

There are more areas that I feel are important to the success of our town, that I am keen in making improvements towards. Within my working role, I predominantly work within a team based environment, and despite mine or others views and beliefs, we pull together to ensure the best job is achieved by playing to our strengths. This is something I hope to bring towards Sandown town council, to acheive the benefits Sandown deserves.

Thank You for taking the time to read this, and I would love to hear what your priorities and ideas are, and as to how I can help support you towards these goals.

Toby

Toby Wilcock for Sandown Council Send a message to learn more.

This May I will be running as a candidate for Sandown Town Council in the South Ward. Having grown up in Sandown I take great pride in the town and would like to be a positive influence in its future improvement.

I believe it is important that the local council represents everyone who lives in Sandown regardless of their age or background. I understand that I may lack the life experience of some candidates however I feel i have a better understanding of the issues, hopes and aspirations of younger voters and families.

I feel Sandown has more potential than other island towns to change and improve in the coming years, and feel it is important for the views of those who will live with changes longest to be heard.

I would welcome views from any sandown south (or north) residents on what the key local issues are that effect you and ideas of how you feel the council could improve those issues. I do not promise to have all the answers to Sandowns' issues but I do promise to listen to all views and try my hardest to fairly represent them.

Thank you for your support