Regional sewage treatment works set for site in Manx plantation

Manx Utilities will take over ownership of the plantation

A new sewage treatment works to serve parts of the east of the Isle of Man will be situated in a plantation, Manx Utilities (MU) has said.

The facility for Laxey and Baldrine will be at the northern part of the Axnfell plantation.

MU said it considered various factors in its decision, including proximity to residential areas, highway access and environmental and ecological issues.

A facility is part of a £40m government scheme to deal with the island's waste.

An MU spokeswoman said it had considered more than 50 sites in the area for the project, which has been hampered by a number of delays.

Ownership of the earmarked land would be transferred from the Department of Environment, Food and Agriculture (DEFA) to MU, she added.

The new facility would serve people in Laxey and Baldrine

MU chairman Tim Crookall said the development meant the organisation could now "get on with delivering a modern sewage treatment process for Garff", which would "ultimately cease the pumping of raw sewage to sea on the coasts of our island".

An MU spokeswoman said the site's outline has been minimised "to reduce visible and environmental impacts, whilst still allowing space for potential future expansion".

She said any loss of trees would be mitigated by further planting of native, broadleaf trees in the area and on other MU-owned land.

The organisation would be able to use a turbine to recover a "significant amount of the electricity used to pump sewage up to the Axnfell site", which would reduce "the carbon footprint of the scheme", she added.

An exhibition outlining the plans will be put on display ahead of a planning application being formally submitted, and it is anticipated work will begin later in 2023.

The government's Island Plan has tabled the site to be operational by the first quarter of 2026.