THE GAZETTE can reveal that the 2011 Island games may be at risk of having to be cancelled after the council on the Island have withheld a promised grant of £350,000 of funding.
Approx. 3,800 athletes and supporters from 24 member islands are set to attend.
The games are set to be held in Ryde between June 25 and July 1, 2011 and will be the largest sporting event held in the UK prior to the Olympic Games in 2012.
Deputy Cllr leader George Brown for Isle of Wight Council has said that he wants assurances it will go ahead before it releases the grant. He continued: “The committee know that they have to convince us that the games are going ahead.”
Chairman of the Island games David Ball spoke to The Gazette explained that about £1.5m was needed to stage the games and without the council funding the preparation work would stall. He went on to say “We’re at a stage now where bills are coming thick and fast.
“We get the opportunity every so often to get a really good deal on equipment and to do that you need to pay quite quickly and that is causing us some headaches. If we didn’t get the promised grant I don’t see how we could run.”
The last time the games were held on the Isle of Wight was in 1993.
