Residents warned of airport drainage work noise

Overnight drainage improvement works will take place on Thursday and Friday nights

Residents living near the Isle of Man Airport have been warned there will be noise caused by drainage improvement works at the site for two nights.

The facility's bosses said part of the project needed to take place while the airport was closed to flights and passengers between 20:30 and 05:30 BST on Thursday and Friday.

Work involves use of heavy machinery, such as excavators and rock breakers to remove rock ahead of the installation of new drainage infrastructure.

A spokesman for the airport said due to the open nature of the landscape and a "lack of natural noise barriers", some disturbance was "inevitable" in the areas of Derbyhaven, Ballasalla and Castletown.

However, he warned that could be "more widespread" depending on atmospheric and weather conditions during the works.

'Minimise disruption'

The work is part of a wider drainage programme that aims to prevent surface water pooling on the airfield, improve water flow and drainage capacity for heavy rainfall.

The project was needed as a result of the aging infrastructure at the site, as well as the pressures of changing environmental conditions and increased operational demands, which had affected the effectiveness of the existing drainage system, the spokesman said.

Apologising to residents in the area, interim airport director Geoff Pugh said the work was an "essential part" of ongoing improvements to the airport's infrastructure and the team was "doing everything we can to minimise disruption".

The rock breaking had initially been scheduled for two weeks in October, but was brought forward and condensed into two nights to "minimise the duration of the disturbance", he said.

He said while it was recognised that there was "rarely an ideal time for essential maintenance of this nature", the timing had been planned to "cause the least disruption".