Isle of Wight

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ISLE OF WIGHT

PARISH ELECTIONS, 6 MAY 2021

STATISTICS



The Isle of Wight is completely parished.

33 parishes
33 parish councils

9 parishes with town council status and a town mayor – Brading, Cowes, East Cowes, Newport and Carisbrooke, Ryde, Sandown, Shanklin, Ventnor and Yarmouth.

11 parishes set precepts for 2024-25 over £140,000, requiring additional budget disclosure in council tax bills

Bembridge 245,561
Cowes (T) 355,900
East Cowes (T) 371,950
Freshwater 512,004
Lake 275,093
Newport and Carisbrooke (T) 784,765
Ryde (T) 1,494,826
Sandown (T) 573,852
Shanklin (T) 360,000
Totland 230,000
Ventnor (T) 475,717

After allowing for parish wards, there were 66 separate contests with 299 seats available, attracting 300 candidates.

The candidate breakdown was 1 Lab, 3 Lib Dem, 13 Green Party, 24 Community Groups, 27 Independents, 27 Non-Political Descriptions and 205 No Description.

Of the 66 electoral contests, 18 were contested, 27 attracted an exact number of candidates and 21 ended up with a shortfall of candidates.

In terms of the 299 seats, 77 (25.8%) were filled by contested elections, 188 (62.9%) were elected uncontested and 34 (11.3%) were not filled. Within the 77 contested seats, the degree of contestation was 37 (12.4%). [If 10 candidates are nominated for 8 seats, all 8 seats are filled by contested elections, but the degree of contestation is 2].

After allowing for 34 seats unfilled, the remaining 265 seats were filled as follows –
1 Lab, 3 Lib Dem, 11 Green Party, 24 Community Groups, 23 Independent, 22 Non-Political Descriptions and 181 No Description.

The 24 Community Groups elected were

6 Island Independent Network
9 Our Ryde, Our Town
1 Putting Ryde First
7 Working for Shanklin
1 Our Ventnor

Out of the 33 parish councils, 2 were political and 31 were non-political.

I classify political councils as having at least 50% of those elected with a political description. The political councils were

Ryde (T) (16) 9 Our Ryde, Our Town, 3 Island Independent Network, 1 Putting Ryde First, 1 Independent and 2 []
Shanklin (T) (15) 7 Working for Shanklin, 1 Green Party, 1 Non Political Description and 6 []

All councils were quorate.

[Pete Whitehead]

Brading is a strange place to have a town council. Cool waxworks museum there

[carlton43]

Nov 9, 2024 13:18:14 GMT Pete Whitehead said:

Brading is a strange place to have a town council. Cool waxworks museum there

Well, I can assure you that one really does not want a hot one!

[uthacalthing]

Which of these if any hold quasi separatist positions?

And is a fixed link still a point of debate?

[nyx]

Nov 10, 2024 1:22:39 GMT uthacalthing said:

Which of these if any hold quasi separatist positions?

Separatism is nonexistent- the Isle of Wight is not like Cornwall and Yorkshire in this regard.

Nov 10, 2024 1:22:39 GMT uthacalthing said:

And is a fixed link still a point of debate?

It will always be a point of debate, but probably not actively enough to be a significant factor in any elections. Nobody realistically thinks that one will happen, even the people who want one.

[Khunanup]

Nov 10, 2024 1:22:39 GMT uthacalthing said:

Which of these if any hold quasi separatist positions?

And is a fixed link still a point of debate?

Vectis Party is autonomist, but they've, erm, had their issues recently...

This is the fixed link campaign website: solentfreedomtunnel.co.uk/ As you can see its not been updated recently which tells you much of what you need to know about how likely it is to happen...

[tonyhil]

Perhaps if Boris Johnson became PM again he might take up the idea...

[uthacalthing]

The money I would cut from the social work budget in IoW would pay for it.

I think there is a very finite need for offshore tax havens so Dependency status is a dead end. More chance of the Isle of Man becoming an English county