Manx government backtracks over plans to demolish tram terrace

Tramway Terrace is part of the 1877 Douglas horse tram stable complex

A Manx government department has backtracked on plans to demolish a registered building which is part of the Douglas horse tram stable complex.

The Department of Infrastructure (DOI) last week announced it intended to knock down the 1877 Tramway Terrace building due to safety concerns.

A DOI spokesman said that was now "not necessarily the case".

It comes after heritage campaigners raised concerns that the department was seeking to "bypass" planning rules.

Last week the department called for contractors interested in undertaking emergency demolition work of the Victorian terrace in Douglas to come forward after its own surveys found the site was unsafe.

In a statement released on Tuesday, the DOI changed its position and said an independent structural review of the building had been commissioned by the Department of Environment, Food and Agriculture (Defa).

A department spokesman said this report would be used to consider "appropriate actions", and all processes would be followed correctly.

'All the hoops'

Isle of Man Victorian Society member Peter Kelly had raised concerns that safety was being used as "an excuse" to avoid acquiring planning consent to demolish.

Registered building consent is usually required from planning authorities before any demolition or alterations to a protected building can take place.

A bid to demolish and redevelop an 18th Century warehouse building on North Quay in Douglas last year saw private sector applicants "go through all the hoops" before the application was turned down, Mr Kelly said.

In that case, Defa commissioned an independent report to assess the structural integrity of the building after claims were made it was unsafe.

Mr Kelly said in the case of Tramway Terrace, it had appeared "one department is letting the other go ahead and do what it likes, which is quite wrong".

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