The Isle of Wight is an island, English county and unitary authority in the English Channel, 2 to 5 miles off the coast of Hampshire, across the Solent. It is the largest and second-most populous island in England. Referred to as "The Island" by residents, the Isle of Wight has resorts that have been popular holiday destinations since Victorian times. It is known for its mild climate, coastal scenery, and verdant landscape of fields, downland, and chines. The island is historically part of Hampshire. The island is designated a UNESCO Biosphere Reserve. With a land area of 380 km2 (150 sq mi), it is about half the size of Singapore.
Newport is the county town of the Isle of Wight, an island county off the south coast of England. The town is slightly north of the centre of the island, located in the civil parish of Newport and Carisbrooke. It has a quay at the head of the navigable section of the River Medina, which flows northwards to Cowes and the Solent. The 2021 census recorded a population of 25,407.
Cowes is an English seaport town and civil parish on the Isle of Wight. Cowes is located on the west bank of the estuary of the River Medina, facing the smaller town of East Cowes on the east bank. The two towns are linked by the Cowes Floating Bridge, a chain ferry.
Ryde is an English seaside town and civil parish on the north-east coast of the Isle of Wight. The built-up area had a population of 24,096 according to the 2021 Census. Its growth as a seaside resort came after the villages of Upper Ryde and Lower Ryde were merged in the 19th century, as can still be seen in the town's central and seafront architecture. The resort's expansive sands are revealed at low tide. Their width means the regular ferry service to the mainland requires a long listed pier – the fourth longest in the United Kingdom, and the oldest surviving.
Isle of Wight Council, known between 1890 and 1995 as Isle of Wight County Council, is the local authority for the Isle of Wight in England. Since 1995 it has been a unitary authority, being a county council which also performs the functions of a district council. It is based at County Hall in Newport. The council has been under no overall control since 2021, being led by a coalition of independent, Green, and Our Island councillors called the Alliance Group.
The Isle of Wight is rich in historical and archaeological sites, from prehistoric fossil beds with dinosaur remains, to dwellings and artefacts dating back to the Bronze Age, Iron Age, and Roman periods.
As a geographical entity distinct from the mainland, the Isle of Wight has always fought to have this identity recognised. The Isle of Wight is currently a ceremonial and Non-metropolitan county and local government is controlled by unitary authority. Prior to the 2024 United Kingdom General election, the island was the highest populated Westminster constituency in the country.
Isle of Wight was a constituency that was last represented in the House of Commons of the UK Parliament from 2017 until 2024 by Bob Seely, a Conservative.
Southern Vectis is a bus operator on the Isle of Wight, founded in 1921 as "Dodson and Campbell" and became the "Vectis Bus Company" in 1923. The company was purchased by Southern Railway before being nationalised in 1969. In 1987, the company was re-privatised, and in July 2005, it became a subsidiary of Go-Ahead Group.
Wightbus was a bus operator on the Isle of Wight, established and owned by Mr Anand Pandya, Mr Ryan Reed, and the Isle of Wight County Council. It operated a network of thirteen local bus services running across the island, mostly services which would not have been viable for the island's dominant commercial operator, Southern Vectis, to operate.
There are several modes of Transport on the Isle of Wight, an island in the English Channel.
Haylands is an area just to the south of Ryde on the Isle of Wight, off the south coast of England. At the time of the 2011 Census the population etc. of Haylands is listed under Ryde. Located to the east, it is a short walk away from housing estates at Pell and Binstead. The settlement consists mainly of a housing development, including some ex-local authority housing, a corner shop in Upton Road, a primary and a middle school. It is not far from Ryde High School at Pell Lane. In the centre of Haylands there is a pub called Lake Huron. The pub's name originates from the Lake family, a 19th-century family of brewers who owned several pubs naming them after the Great Lakes of North America, Lake Huron is the only one to have survived. Haylands forms part of the local electoral ward of Havenstreet, Ashey and Haylands and at the Isle of Wight Council election in 2009 elected Independent councillor Vanessa Churchman. The settlement lies to the west of the A3055 road. Haylands is approximately 5.5 miles (8.9 km) north-east of Newport. Southern Vectis route 4 used to link the area with Ryde and East Cowes. However this caused the journey time to increase significantly and the area was later withdrawn from the service and after negotiations a limited replacement service was put in place. This service was later improved and is now run as route 37.
The 2009 Isle of Wight Council elections were held on Thursday 4 June 2009.
David Pugh is a former Conservative councillor and served as leader of the Isle of Wight Council between September 2007 and May 2013, making him the longest serving leader of the local authority since its inception in 1995. He was first elected to the Isle of Wight Council at the local elections in May 2005 as a member for the Shanklin Central Ward, re-elected in the June 2009 elections to the Shanklin South Ward, losing his seat in the 2013 local elections after 2 other candidates withdrew, making the election a straight choice between Pugh and Independent, Richard Priest. Consequently, he ceased to be council leader.
The 2013 Isle of Wight Council election was held on 2 May 2013 to elect all 40 members for a four-year term to the Isle of Wight Council, a unitary authority which governs the Isle of Wight. Going into the election, the Conservative Party was looking to gain a third term in power after first being elected to overall control in 2005, but in one of the shock results of the wider local elections being held in the country, the Conservatives lost overall control of the council, having been reduced to 15 seats, 6 short of a majority of 21. The 'Island Independents', a mutually supporting group of candidates and councillors running as independents, gained the same number of seats, whilst other independents, UKIP, Labour, and a Liberal Democrat made up the remainder.
Robert William Henry Seely is a British Conservative Party politician who served as the Member of Parliament (MP) for the Isle of Wight from 2017 until the constituency was split in two in 2024.
The Isle of Man Green Party is a green political party in the Isle of Man founded in August 2016 by Andrew Langan-Newton, who still leads the party along with Deputy Leader, Lamara Craine. Success has been achieved at local authority level with the first seat won in a by-election in 2018 and today the party has 4 elected members on 4 different local authorities. The Party proposes that it provides a forum for citizens of the Isle of Man to build a movement seeking change and direction in Isle of Man politics.
Elections to Isle of Wight Council took place on 6 May 2021 as part of the 2021 United Kingdom local elections. These were held at the same time as the elections for the Hampshire Police and Crime Commissioner. The elections saw the Conservatives lose control of the council, losing seats against the national trend for the party.
