Economic plan to create jobs on Isle of Man approved

Alfred Cannan says the changes have been made in response to feedback on the plan

A plan to create 5,000 more jobs and increase opportunities for businesses to grow on the Isle of Man has been approved by Tynwald.

A revised version of the Isle of Man Economic Strategy document, which is a long-term plan to raise GDP to £10bn, was debated on Tuesday.

However, a proposal to grow the population to 100,000 by 2037 was downgraded in the amended strategy.

Chief Minister Alfred Cannan said that was in response to public feedback.

It comes after population growth was ranked least important of the four key themes of the first draft of the strategy in a recent consultation.

Concerns had been raised over how the island's infrastructure would cope with a 16,000-strong spike in the number of residents.

'Refocussed'

As a result, job creation has now been elevated to the most important position in the plan.

Mr Cannan said, while the growth ambition remained, it had been "refocussed" after public feedback indicated it was "hard to conceive growing the population when some areas of service provision are already under strain".

"As a result we've emphasised the need for the groundwork to improve our government and island services for a larger population," he said.

The revised plan would allow the government to "make sure that we have the right infrastructure which meets the needs of society both now and into the future", he added.