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Salt barn is just game of chance
DON'T WORRY: Tynwald is hoping for a mild winter
TYNWALD voted not to play chicken with the bad winter weather and opted to pay for a structure to allow them to stock up on salt supplies.
The salt barn, to be built at Balthane at a cost of £631,000, will increase salt stocks from 5,000 to 10,000 tonnes.
Work will begin this month and it is hoped it will be finished by March.
Plans were drawn up following two harsh winters, which caused havoc for the island’s community. Overnight temperatures dipped as low as minus 12C meaning the snow took a long time to clear.
The Department of Infrastructure wants to reduce the amount of business hours lost to the economy as well as protect the vulnerable in the event of heavy snow.
Some members were sceptical about the need for the barn, including Dudley Butt MLC, whose confident assertion that forecasters believe a harsh winter is unlikely this year was met with cries of ‘Michael Fish!’ from some who remembered the hapless weather forecaster’s 1987 ‘no storm’ blunder ahead of a devastating storm.
Zac Hall (Onchan) queried the need to spend so much on the barn in light of similar structures erected in the UK for much less (a 5,000-tonne capacity barn in Liverpool for around £300,000 and a 10,000 tonne capacity structure in North Lanarkshire for approximately £400,000).
Infrastructure Minister David Cretney said transport costs and the desire to award work to Manx firms pushed the price up.
The motion carried with 19 in favour and three against (David Quirk, Alfred Cannan and Zac Hall) in the House of Keys and six in favour and only Mr Butt and Juan Turner against in the Legislative Council.
Mr Cretney was also successful in his request for £178,000 to spend on clearing the old abattoir site at Tromode and creating a new brownfield site. Some members were concerned the site has already been earmarked as a potential location for a new vehicle depot. Tynwald also spent £565,000 to stablilise the cliffs at Ballure.
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Weather for Isle of Man
Monday 20 May 2013
Today
Cloudy
Temperature: 9 C to 14 C
Wind Speed: 23 mph
Wind direction: North west
Tomorrow
Sunny
Temperature: 7 C to 13 C
Wind Speed: 24 mph
Wind direction: North west
