We could be just a couple of months away from knowing whether the Douglas Bay Horse Tramway will be extended back towards the Sea Terminal after an amended motion in Tynwald put a deadline of May for a debate on the scheme.
A motion had been tabled by Sarah Maltby MHK which was wanting a debate on the plans in April, but after a couple of amendments this has been delayed, although just by a month.
The original motion asked for the Department of Infrastructure to present a capital funding request, implementation plan and business case for re-extending the horse tramway to the Sea Terminal at Tynwald’s April sitting.
But an amendment was made by Infrastructure Minister Tim Crookall to say that a business case would be made to Treasury as soon as possible. If the Treasury approved this then the funding bid would be brought to Tynwald. A further amendment was made by Lawrie Hooper MHK (Ramsey) which set a deadline of May for the motion to brought forward for the funding. This second amendment was approved unanimously at Tynwald.
Whilst a business case has not yet been submitted (as confirmed by the Treasury), Tim Crookall has said this will be done in the next few days. Mr Crookall also said that May is an ambitious deadline and that it may be June before the proposal is raised at Tynwald.
When it does finally get to Tynwald, MHKs will debate whether to approve money to go towards extending the Horse Tramway from the apparent temporary terminus at Villa Marina to the Sea Terminal. Previously approved plans (which included funding, money which was used elsewhere in the Promenade redevelopment) confirm that this would be mainly a single-track extension with passing loops, and rather than being in the centre of the road it would run at the side by the Prom walkway.