Douglas Council's £11m plans for 'much needed' new flats progress

Willaston Police Station was demolished to make way for the development

A new £11m apartment complex in the Isle of Man capital's will help "free up" other homes for families, Douglas Council has said.

Planning permission has been granted for 48 council flats in Willaston, with work due to start in September.

A former police station and a church at the Snaefell Road site were demolished to make way for the development.

Councillor Janet Thommeny said the "much needed" two-bedroom flats are due to be completed in 2023.

Progressing the plans "has been a slog", she told the Local Democracy Reporting Service, but now "everything was in place, ready to go".

She said the council had resolved previous issues it had with central government, which owned the police station, over building on the plot.

Willaston, which is the largest public housing estate on the Isle of Man, has a limited number of apartments according to the council, which said many do not conform to modern standards.

It is confident the new flats will be "easily let" to tenants given the size of the council's waiting list for two-bedroom units.

Ms Thommeny confirmed several mature trees would be cut down as part of the development, a quarter of which were "diseased or structurally unsound".

However, she said 32 new trees would be planted around the complex.