A SANDOWN resident has set up a petition to urge the Isle of Wight Council to do something about the town's unattractive sites.

Sandown currently has multiple eyesore properties on and around the seafront.

Sally McConkey, of Cross Street, Sandown, set up a petition last week urging local authorities to take action because she says the town is currently in the worst state she has ever seen it.

Sally said: "I grew up here. My parents were in the tourist industry and I know a lot of the economy of Sandown is based around tourism.

"Over the last few years the state of Sandown has steadily got worse.

"I have heard tourists say how bad it is. Is that going to have a knock-on effect? Are they going to come back?

"The Ocean Hotel is the last straw for me. It was the best hotel in the town and it is now literally a rubbish tip.

"They are building sites and developments are going to continue but tourists don’t see that, they just see building sites."

The petition, which she has been taking around town, already has 250 signatures, with 2,500 needed for it to be put on an IW Council agenda.

It can be signed in the Sandown Carnival shop, Ladies Realm and the RSPCA shop.

  • The former Carlton Hotel is in the process of being redeveloped into a Premier Inn, with a completion date of spring 2020 targeted and work progressing.

It has been in construction since last summer, and a crane was installed on Monday to begin the next phase of work.

  • The Tarvic 2 and St Moritz hotels on Culver Parade are still being tidied up following the fire which devastated them in September 2018.
  • The Ocean Hotel and King’s House sites, both owned by the Carlauren Group, are showing no signs of development.
  • The Grand Hotel has been empty for years, and a site opposite the library remains undeveloped.
  • The large empty site opposite the library remains undeveloped.
  • The 60-bedroom Esplanade Hotel on High Street is currently up for auction. It is an amalgam of five Victorian residences, but is in a poor state of repair and requires significant upgrading and refurbishment.

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