Strict timelines for urban regeneration developers, says minister

The funding for the scheme will come from the Economic Strategy Fund

There will be strict timescales on redevelopment projects in urban areas approved for government funding, the enterprise minister said.

Three sites were given the green light to receive a grant last week under the Island Infrastructure Scheme.

Tim Johnston said the regeneration of empty sites would help to provide the infrastructure needed to meet government population growth targets.

But funds would not be paid until projects were completed, he said.

The Department for Enterprise (DfE) also held powers to reclaim the funds if a development was not carried out within agreed criteria, the minister said.

The first three projects earmarked to receive funding, which is set to total about £11m of the £50m overall cost of projects, will come from the £100m Economic Strategy Fund.

Managed by the DfE, the first round of applications were submitted in early 2023, after Tynwald backed the scheme.

Mr Johnston said there would be "very strict timescales" on planning and on when developments must begin.

A hotel complex on the Villiers site in Douglas was one of the first sites accepted onto the scheme

More than 70 sites across the island have been classified by the government as unoccupied urban areas, with the majority of those under private ownership

A total of 11 applications for the scheme were received, of which a multi-use complex in Douglas and two apartment schemes in the capital and Port Erin were given approval in principle from funding.

Mr Johnston said four more were "potentially coming forward" and further conversations were set to be had about how other projects could benefit in future.

The minister said some sites had been empty "for a very long time because they haven't been viable", but the scheme would leverage private investment to "start building".

Once in use the government would recover "all of that cost and more" thanks to the benefits to the Manx economy and construction industry, he added.

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