Work is underway at the former Saddle Mews nursing home, in Douglas.

Kirindolam 2 Ltd was granted planning approval in May to convert and extend the site in Groves Road into 34 apartments, 33 one-bedroom studio flats and one two-bedroom flat.

Approval was granted with a condition that the developer enters into a legal agreement with the departments of both Environment, Food and Agriculture and Infrastructure to pay £74,715 in lieu of providing eight affordable housing units.

The bid attracted a large number of letters from Saddle Mews residents, who say they moved into the development to be part of a senior citizen village with residents having to be over 50 to live there. In total, planners received 96 representations from 69 households.

The bid was also discussed by Douglas Council, with council leader David Christian saying the new flats could well attract much younger people whose lifestyle could clash with existing residents, many in their 80s and 90s.

In a statement by agent Endless Design, the application explains the ’typical occupier’ is likely to be ’a professional on a short term contract, or a mid-term occupancy who has yet to find a new permanent residence, or somebody who visits the island on a weekly basis returning to the main residence at the weekend and wants a fixed base’.

Parking provision will feature 24 car parking spaces, six motorbike spaces and 19 secure bicycle spaces.

To comply with housing regulations, the maximum occupancy of the studio flats would be one, and two for the two-bedroom flat.

The nursing home, run by Four Seasons Health Care, closed in 2010 as changes in regulations meant the business ’was no longer viable’.