Earlier this week we reported on the planning application submitted by the Department of Infrastructure for a temporary structure on the old Summerland site to house both the trams and horses to support the continued operation of the Douglas Bay Horse Tramway. Further details have now been released on the reasons for this application with confirmation that the condition of the current home of the trams is so poor that it poses a danger to public safety and that a new facility is desperately needed.
An industrial type unit is due to be constructed on part of the old Summerland site – subject to planning approval – and this will provide a home for not only the trams but also the horses which are due to be evicted from the historic Summerhill stables. This had not been the original intention of the Department of Infrastructure when the continued operation of the Douglas Bay Horse Tramway in 2017 and 2018 was approved in Tynwald back in July but an inspection of Strathallan Depot has shown significant structural issues. Engineers have described the front wall as unsafe and recommended the building is decommissioned as soon as possible.
Roy Harmer MHK, Infrastructure Minister, explains: “The amount of work needed to make the Strathallan depot structurally sound rules out a short-term fix. Any scheme would involve significant structural works at the very least and the cost would be prohibitive. We simply would not have time to design and progress the scale of repairs necessary to make the building operational in the timescale available. Subject to planning approval, the use of a temporary building will hopefully allow the Department to put in place suitable facilities for the start of the 2017 season. The intention is that any long-term solution would, if possible, still involve the sympathetic redevelopment of the existing Strathallan site.”
The full planning application can be read at https://services.gov.im/planningapplication/services/planning/planningapplicationdetails.iom?ApplicationReferenceNumber=16%2F01365%2FB.