New road marks end to community hub access works

The new access road connects onto Ballaoates Road in Braddan

The "long awaited" access road to a new local authority community centre has been opened.

It marks the final piece of work around the £10m Roundhouse in Braddan, which officially opened in March.

It brings to an end a dispute between Braddan Commissioners and the Department of Health and Social Care over temporary access through the Noble's Hospital site.

Centre manager Cassi McAllister said that she was "delighted" as the issues had been a "grey cloud hanging over us".

Ms McCallister said that the opening of the permanent access road would "clear up misconceptions" people had about not being able to drive to the centre.

Even while the temporary access arrangements were in place, some members of the public were under the impression that the centre was inaccessible, she said.

People will now be able to access the Roundhouse via Ballaoates road, near the junction and miniature roundabout with Mount Rule Road.

The temporary access road at the north-eastern part of the site near the hospital has now been closed, with permanent barriers to be erected after Christmas.

The commissioners also had to pay a nominal £250 to acquire land for the road

Ms McAllister said that while it had been a long process politically, the actual works on access road had been completed in about 14 weeks.

The commissioners said the final costs of the access road project are not yet available, but are expected to be around £230,000.

Earlier in December, a permanent puffin crossing was installed to allow safe access to the centre.

The crossing project cost the local authority £77,410, with £20,000 of that spent on the temporary traffic lights that had been in place an interim measure since the centre opened.

Additional reporting by the Local Democracy Reporting Service.