Billionaire businessman Trevor Hemmings is planning to press on with plans for a multi-million pound office development after claiming victory in a row over an ’eyesore’ building.

The Department of Environment, Food and Agriculture (DEFA) has approved an application by one of Mr Hemmings’s business interests to remove the former Farmers Combine Warehouse in Ramsey from the Protected Building Register. In the official notice of the decision it is said ’it was determined that the entirety of the building did not reach a sufficiently high bar to be of architectural or historic interest in the national context.

’The effect of this decision is that the property has now been removed from the Protected Buildings Register, and therefore is no longer accorded Registered Building status.’

Mr Hemmings told Isle of Man Newspapers he was ’delighted’ with the decision and said it now means he can press ahead with plans to develop offices in a project worth about £7 million on the site in West Quay, Ramsey.

He vowed: ’It will be good news for Ramsey and the north of the island and something that has not been seen in the town for years.’

He added that a planning application will be submitted in due course.

The saga began earlier this year after Mr Hemmings had planned to demolish the former Farmers’ Combine Warehouse on West Quay.

He revealed to Business News last February that he had been involved in ’promising’ negotiations with an online gaming company that had shown a keen interest in settling in the north of the island and it was said around 250 jobs could have been created.

But DEFA unexpectedly handed over an order indicating that the derelict building had then been placed on the Protected Buildings Register.

The notice was served on Shearwater Properties Limited, Water Street, Ramsey.

It said that ’with immediate effect the demolition, alteration or extension of the building is prohibited.’ Mr Hemmings, who has lived and worked in his beloved north of the island for many years, told Business News at the time it was an ’utterly pointless and potentially disastrous’ decision.

He said: ’The building is simply not worth maintaining.’

He added that it was in a very poor state of repair and among many problems it has a vermin infestation.

Julie Billingsley, from Bride later presented a petition with more than 600 names, to DEFA minister Geoffrey Boot.

She said the protected status for the building was ’crazy’.

And Treasury Minister Alfred Cannan also hit out at the ’negative’ and ’retrograde’ decision by DEFA to protect the building, which may have thwarted plans to bring a business with more than 250 jobs to Ramsey.

The minister, who is MHK for Ayre and Michael, said in his opinion there ’really was no justification’ for the derelict former Farmers’ Combine Warehouse on West Quay being registered.

It is understood the company that had originally shown an interest in a development on the site has since pulled out because of the time taken by DEFA to reach its decision on Mr Hemmings’ application.

But Mr Hemmings is upbeat and said he is hopeful of attracting interest from other businesses to settle in Ramsey.

Meanwhile, Mr Hemmings is looking forward to next Friday’s visit to the island of Princess Anne.

The Princess Royal is expected to open the new facilities at Mr Hemmings’ Ramsey Park Hotel.

The extended facilities at the hotel now include a function room which accommodates up to 200 guests.

Mr Hemmings started his working life as a builder’s apprentice and is now one of the most successful business people in the British Isles.

In the last Sunday Times Rich List he was said to be worth £1.025billion, a rise of £25 million on the previous year.

He has built up a business empire that stretches from pubs to plant hire firms, employing thousands of people.

And his Lancashire-based Northern Trust has an estimated eight million sq ft of industrial and business parks.

He also owns Preston North End football club, which is currently sixth in the Championship table and vying for promotion to the Premier League.

And he is a successful owner of racehorses, mainly on the ’jumps’ having owned three Grand National winners .

He owns Ballaseyr Stud which is a purpose-built facility at Andreas.