THE Isle of Wight Council says it needs more time to consider residents' feedback as it looks to bring its Ryde Interchange project forward.

The local authority has thanked the hundreds of residents who gave their views on the proposed transformation of Ryde Interchange during a six-week improvement consultation.

Launched in June, more than 300 people completed an online survey, and the council received a further 1,700 paper responses, as well as representations from partners such as Historic England.

The local authority sought views from the community on key elements which will define the look and feel of the area, including landscaping and planting, bus carriageway surfacing, kerbing, pedestrian paving and seating.

People were also invited to comment more widely on the scheme itself, which the council says will all be taken into account in the report to be discussed by Cabinet on October 14.

Colin Rowland, director of neighbourhoods, said: "The views we've received are key as we look to take this project forward.

"Due to the wide reaching and detailed comments in a great number of responses, it will take longer than anticipated to give all the feedback full consideration.

"We are now working closely with our partners and the Department for Transport to establish the best ways to recover this lost time to ensure the ongoing success of the scheme."

The aim of the project is to increase connectivity for travellers at the gateway to Ryde, while at the same time making the area around the interchange, pier and Esplanade a better and safer place for people to visit and enjoy as a destination in itself.

The proposals seek to increase and improve public amenity space, and to reorganise that space to reduce the dominance of motor vehicles, improving priority to pedestrians.

Other key elements of the wider project are being delivered by Wightlink — by transforming the disused tramway into a pedestrian and cycling boardwalk up the pier — and South Western Railway, which will refurbish the terminal building to create through access to the reinstated pier, new fully accessible toilets and expanded concessions.