Refurbishment of main road through village in 2026

In March 2024, Michelle Haywood MHK planted daffodils in potholes to highlight the road's condition

A survey is being carried out to create an "underground picture" of a high street ahead of its reconstruction next year.

Infrastructure Minister Michelle Haywood, who prior to her appointment to the role planted daffodils in the potholes in the road to highlight its poor state, said work on High Street in Port St Mary could begin by the spring.

Radar surveys have been carried out this week to map out the issues under the surface before a bid is submitted for up to £500,000 of government funding for the six-month project.

Haywood said carriageway had failed along a stretch where a sewerage pipeline was installed more than two decades ago, leaving it in a "shockingly bad" condition.

She said the survey results would be the "last element of the design" needed to submit a capital funding bid to Treasury for the major repairs that could take up to six months to complete.

'Massively disruptive'

As a former chairman of Port St Mary Commissioners, she said the authority had been campaigning for the works for years, as it was "horrible for everyone that has to travel through stretch of road", which had been "patched up".

The minister said the ground penetrating radar works would help the department to understand "any hazard or any extra support needed" during excavation works.

The investigations were a "really sensible" step, that would help inform how long the works might take and what equipment might be needed "to do the job", she said.

Once funding had been secured, the Department of Infrastructure aimed to begin the scheme in March or April of next year, Haywood confirmed.

As the road was narrow, the section would need to be "entirely closed" for the duration of the works, which would be "massively disruptive" for residents, she said.

Although efforts would be made to minimise the disruption, closing the road would be the only way for the works to be carried out safely, she added.