Councillor Adrian Axford

Councillor Adrian Axford  –  Ryde North West Ward

At County Hall, I have continued to chair the IW Council Pension Fund Committee. The Pension fund has assets of £600 million, ultimately to pay pensions for its 15,000 members over many years. The membership is composed of current pensioners, those who have a deferred pension if they have left the Council before retirement, and current employees. The IW Pension Fund recently received a national award for being the best medium-sized Local Authority pension fund in the country, so well done to all those involved with the administration and delivery of this service.

Locally, this has been a busy year for works on roads and pavements in the Ryde NW ward. My impression is that Ryde has been at the end of the queue as far as Island Roads’ renewal and repair programme of Highway Improvements is concerned, but at last we have seen work start on our local roads. There is still some way to go on this, to bring all roads and pavements up to an acceptable standard, and I will continue to press Island Roads for improvements.

Similarly, Wight Fibre have been digging up our pavements to instal their cables to improve broadband speeds for those who wish to upgrade their connections. Once things have settled down, I hope that we will get better service via the Internet, as it seems that all methods of buying, selling and communicating seem to be more and more Internet-based.

Ryde Town Council have worked together with the IW Council to ensure delivery of local services such as the youth offer, Waterside Pool, beach safety, beach cleaning, flowers and gardens.

I am a member of The Ryde Society, and regularly attend meetings to gather local opinion and report back on council activities.

Adrian Axford

May 2020