The man behind the recently revealed Biosphere Innovation Gateway has a history of eccentric proposals.

The Biosphere Innovation Gateway, which was revealed in last week’s Manx Independent, is a potentially £7 billion project that would transform the south of the island.

Its plans contain 6,000 new homes, a green data complex and renewable power plant, a university campus and a rail line connecting the various elements of the plan.

The idea was proposed by the Sole Estate, which is founded off of the academic work of Ian Clanton, also known as HM the Sole.

When the Independent revealed the plans, HM The Sole reiterated that the proposals were in their conceptual stage, although he is hoping for feasibility studies to be undertaken.

Mr Clanton first made the headlines in the island in 2016 when he announced plans to buy the Castle Mona Hotel in Douglas to turn it into a base for a new ‘meritocratic monarchy’ from where he would ‘address the world on innovation, space exploration and the future of planet Earth’.

The following year he came up with the idea of an E.G.G. kingdom, which stands for ‘Ecological Geophysical Galleon’.

This, he said at the time, would be a 180-acre floating city, the world’s first earth-station that would be a permanent discovery campus dedicated to advancing planetary science and prototyping new innovations.

Mr Clanton ran for Legislative Council in 2020 as well as for the House of Keys, both in the Douglas South by-election in 2021, and for Arbory, Castletown and Malew in the 2021 general election in September that year.

While Mr Clanton has a history of eccentric proposals, his newest plan, the Biosphere Innovation Gateway, has had the Chamber of Commerce asking for the government to explore the idea.

A statement from Chamber said that it is ‘calling for the government to investigate the feasibility of creating a Special Economic Zone, to help realise some of the goals of the Economic Strategy’.

Chamber said that the call comes after the recent news about the Biosphere Innovation Gateway.

Chamber president Kristan McDonald said: ‘We are always interested in new ideas which have the potential to support the government’s Economic Strategy.

‘Right now, one idea we have seen is the “BIG (Biosphere Innovation Gateway) Project”, and in turn the leaders of that are in talks with the Department for Enterprise.

‘The BIG Project is at a very early stage, and it’s one of many we’re looking at.

‘Our members believe that Government can’t be relied upon to achieve the Economic Strategy targets on its own, and a Special Economic Zone could provide the type of public and private sector collaboration which the island needs.

‘Our members are telling us they see the way forward being government acting as an enabler by creating an area where light touch legal, tax and regulatory groundwork drives private sector investment and innovation.’