Castletown Square is set for more change as the bus stops are being redesigned to make them more accessible.

Both the north and south bound stops are to be altered if the Department of Infrastructure’s application (18/01204/B) is granted.

Plans submitted by the DoI state that at present, both bus stops suffer from positioning issues which are not possible to rectify without changes to the layout of the square.

The north (Douglas) bound bus stop will see only a minor change as the kerb will be slightly repositioned to allow the bus to pull up parallel to the kerb.

The south (Port Erin) bound stop would have more large scale changes and would result in the loss of a car parking space.

In the application it states that at present, the bus shelter is nearly 15m from the actual stop, which is itself five metres from the edge of the pavement, making the stop difficult for people with limited mobility, in wheelchairs or anyone with children in prams.

People in wheelchairs and those with prams have to go to the end of the parking bays to access the pavement as there is no gap in the parked cars.

To rectify this, the DoI plans to build an extension to the pavement which would cover the area currently used by the end car parking space.

The new extension will be the same height as the current pavement and will allow the shelter to be moved and rotated to run along the new pavement which will stretch out to the edge of the stop, allowing easier access to get on and off buses.