Ryde ice rink 'white-collar bully-boys' berated by MP

Ryde Arena was closed by AEW in 2016

A property firm which closed an island's only ice rink are "white-collar bully-boys who care little about the community", MPs have been told.

AEW evicted tenants at Ryde Arena, Isle of Wight, in 2016 over unpaid rent.

During a House of Commons debate, the island's MP Bob Seely said the "dreadful, arrogant" company was trying to "game the system to make more money" by pursuing an alternative use for the site.

AEW declined to comment.

Since closing the rink the firm has offered its lease for sale for £3.5m, marketing it as a "waterfront location with alternative use potential".

The Isle of Wight MP said the firm's behaviour was "utterly wretched"

Addressing government proposals to reform planning laws, Mr Seely told MPs the system was "already weighted far too much in favour of developers".

He continued: "AEW's tactics have been to sweat our council to allow a change of use.

"Its behaviour has been utterly wretched. The firm is little more than white-collar bully-boys who care little about Ryde.

"Under the current system, as imperfect and in need of reform as it is, we can fight these dreadful, arrogant people, in the hope that they will eventually give up, get fed up when they do not get change of use and, frankly, go forth and multiply.

"I am genuinely worried that under the new system communities like Ryde will not have a voice... and it is ethically questionable companies like AEW that will profit."

Delivery of a new sports centre including a rink on a separate site has been delayed

Replying to MPs in Tuesday's debate, Housing Minister Christopher Pincher said the new Planning Bill would "end the glacial pace" of delivering new homes and vital infrastructure.

A new £3m sports centre including an ice rink, next to Smallbrook Stadium, Ryde, was approved by the island's council in 2019.

However its operator, Zyrieda Denning, said the scheme was on hold pending approval for a plant to treat waste from the site.