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Budget 2007-8

COUNCIL ISSUES £0.8M PLEDGE TO BOOST ISLAND GAMES

THE ISLE of Wight Council is set to pledge an extra £800,000 over the next four years to boost preparations for the International Island Games.

The money will be used to increase opportunities for Island residents to take part in sports, improving links between schools and clubs and helping to develop talented athletes so that they have the best chance of representing the Island at the 2011 games.

The cash will also be used to appoint a director of the games in 2009.

The council has already given £100,000 a year for five years to help stage the games which will take place one year before the London Olympics in 2012, will be used to organise transport, events, equipment and facilities on the Island.

In order to manage the games as effectively as possible, the council and the Isle of Wight Island Games Association are forming a joint venture independent company to organise and manage the Games in 2011 which will be formed in April this year to allow adequate planning and preparation for the event which is due to take place in July 2011.

Island sports facilities are due to be upgraded and a fitness campaign rolled out across the Isle of Wight involving schools, voluntary organisations and youth groups to make sure that the games leave a lasting legacy on the Island.

Councillor Tim Hunter-Henderson the Isle of Wight Council's cabinet member for the Economy, the Customer, Communications, Leisure and Tourism said:

"The council has already agreed to spend £100,000 a year over five years in order to help pay for the overall costs of staging the games on the Island in 2011. Now we have committed to spend this extra money to create a lasting legacy of health and wellbeing as a result of the opportunities the Island Games will bring. This represents a total investment of 1.3 million pounds.

The games represent a huge opportunity for the Isle of Wight to provide a lasting legacy in terms of improved sporting facilities and improved physical fitness for Islanders - as well as raising the Island's profile on the international stage."