Fresh hope for Ryde ice rink as new tenants agreed

Protesters joined hands to form a chain around the building in October 2016 following its closure

There is renewed hope an ice rink could be reopened after a council agreed to let new tenants take over the abandoned building.

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

Isle of Wight Council, which owns the freehold, said previously it was "happy in principle" with a new leaseholder but has now formally agreed to it.

It said the new tenants wanted to refurbish and reuse the premises.

Michael Lilley, Ryde mayor, said the local authority had let down the Island's young people - and potential Winter Olympic medal winners - by not bringing the ice rink back.

He added that the town still had a "dilapidated eyesore" on its seafront.

In 2018, Isle of Wight Council tried to bring legal action against the current leaseholder AEW, now called NY Mellon.

However, it was dropped last year when County Hall was advised there was little hope of positive resolution, according to the Local Democracy Reporting Service (LDRS).

The local authority said at a corporate scrutiny committee on Tuesday that it needed an update on the handover progress from AEW to the new, unnamed, tenants.

Meanwhile, no progress has been made on plans for a separate new ice rink at Smallbrook Stadium that were passed nearly three years ago by the council, said LDRS.

Chris Quirk, vice-chair of the council's scrutiny committee, said the lack of progress was disappointing but the search was still on for a facility on the Island.