A COUNCILLOR who blocked an Isle of Wight skateboarding group from giving free lessons to children has apologised, and agreed to help reverse the council’s motion at the next meeting.

Yesterday, John Cattle — whose non-profit group provides free skate lessons at local parks during the summer holidays — revealed the group had been blocked from running sessions in East Cowes, because the council objected to the name of parent company Wight Trash.

East Cowes Town Council had told the group they could only run the sessions if the name Wight Trash was removed from the branding. However, John said this would not be possible as the name appears on all their skateboards.

Now, Cllr Karl Love, who branded the name ‘inappropriate in this day and age’ has made a u-turn on his decision.

He said today: “I humbly apologise for misjudging this situation.”

He said at the meeting he had agreed with the service provided by Wight Trash, but disagreed with the name.

“The full funding was agreed by the East Cowes Council to enable the activity to progress and I will support a rescinding of the motion at the next meeting.

“I had not realised the the town council vote would effectively block the activity and for this I also apologise for my part.

“It was never my intention to cause harm to young people or our community which I deeply care for and work for the better good

“We all make mistakes and I did in this occasion.”

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