Protecting sea front from all storms not possible, minister says

Planning permission has also been granted for a sea wall near the Bottleneck Car Park

Protecting all of Douglas Promenade from damage by major storms in future is not possible, the infrastructure minister has said.

A £900,000 project to build a concrete wall between the Douglas War Memorial and the Empress Hotel starts next year.

Tim Crookall said that, and another at the Bottleneck Car Park, were designed to protect the most vulnerable areas.

But he said the power of major storms would still have the potential to cause damage to some areas in future.

"When a storm is big enough, and high enough, and strong enough, it will still do damage, no matter what we put in its way," he said.

'Full impact'

Originally approved in May 2020, the 1.2m (4ft) high structure along a 500m (0.3 mile) section of the walkway is set to be completed by September.

A separate plan to build a sea wall on the promenade between the slipway at the Sea Terminal and the start of the sunken gardens was approved in June 2023.

He said although a number of options had been considered to protect the promenade, further works were not currently being considered.

"A decision on development along the rest of Douglas Promenade has not been taken at this time and is not a priority," he said.

Jason Moorhouse MHK asked if stones and material on the beach could be removed to lessen the impact of waves in more unprotected areas.

But Mr Crookall told Tynwald members the material was needed to "dissipate the waves" because exposing the current sea wall would see it "get absolutely battered and take the full impact of the waves".

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