For the first time, Isle of Wight Council is giving people the opportunity to ask live questions about the forthcoming highways PFI using social media.
On 15 June between 2pm – 4pm, IW Council officers and members will answer live questions on its Facebook page from anyone who logs on.
To join the council’s Facebook page, all people need to do is search ‘Isle of Wight Council Service Updates’ and click ‘Like’.
The council will put up a posting about the PFI live question session just before 2pm and people can then ask a question by posting it in the comments box. These will then be answered live, also in the comments box.
The three people who will answer the questions will be PFI Programme Director Jay Jayasundara, Director for Economy and Environment Stuart Love and Cabinet member responsible for transport, Edward Giles.
Cllr Giles said “The PFI is a very important scheme for the Isle of Wight which will bring our roads up to national standards and it has certainly caused lots of debate among the public.
“Social media, and in particular Facebook, is very widely used and by using this innovative approach to give people a chance to question us live, we hope this demonstrates the council continues to be approachable and open about the PFI process.
“You could say it is a little like a public meeting, except people get to ask live questions from the comfort of their own homes. We are effectively bringing the meeting to them.”
The council will try and allow as many people as possible to ask questions and will prioritise postings from different people. Follow up questions will be answered when possible.
Shortly, the council will also be holding a number of public drop in sessions about the roads PFI. The dates of these will be announced in the near future.
The council also runs a Twitter feed which people can join. The council’s Twitter name is iwight, although Twitter will not be used for the live question and answer session.
