The island’s planning committee has voted not to accept a recommendation to refuse a multi-million pound redevelopment of the long-vacant Lord Street bus station site in Douglas.

But this doesn’t mean the application - which includes a 12 storey tower block as well as a multi-screen cinema - has been approved.

A final decision on the application by Lord Street Development SPV Ltd (25/90516/B) has been put on hold for two weeks while talks place over what conditions should be attached to the scheme should it be approved.

It followed a split vote in the planning committee on Monday morning. Committee chairman Rob Callister’s casting vote meant the vote came down four-three against the planning officer’s recommendation to refuse the application.

The application is for a mixed use development comprising a multiscreen cinema, 85 residential apartments with private parking, and 12 retail/leisure/restaurant units and office space.

In addition, five bus stands on Lord Street with passenger waiting areas would be provided together with a travel information centre, public toilets and bus driver welfare accommodation.

In his report, the planning officer acknowledged that the design ‘may not be to everyone’s taste’.

But the proposal for a 12-storey apartment block, making it the tallest building in Douglas, was not cited by him as a reason why the scheme should be refused.

Instead, he said that the lack of affordable housing and public open space were ‘too great of a departure from established planning policies to approve’.

No affordable housing provision or public open space is proposed to be provided, either in the form of physical units/space or commuted sum payments.

The applicant argued that providing a £1.5m payment in lieu of providing affordable housing or public open space would make the scheme unviable financially.

This was despite the possibility that government funding towards the project could be made available.

An application for a £15.8m grant under the Department for Enterprise’s Island Infrastructure Scheme remained opened and an extension granted, the planning committee heard.

The applicant has instead proposed that payment of a commuted sum be linked to a review-linked mechanism, to be assessed once the development was completed and when the actual outturn costs, revenues and returns were known.

Developer Conor Bradley presented it as a choice between regeneration of a brownfield or continued dereliction.

Douglas City Council had voted to support the scheme. Councillor Falk Horning pointed out it had been a brownfield site for decades and the proposal would bring much-needed city centre housing, add vitality to the area and reduce the feeling of a ‘ghost town’ in the evenings.

But Douglas Head resident David Wertheim said he objected to ‘this nightmare on Lord Street’. He said it was the ‘wrong project in the wrong place’.

Committee members spoke of feeling like they had one hand tied behind their backs - supporting the scheme overall but uncomfortable that no commuted sum was being offered in lieu of affordable housing. Sam Skelton said he felt ‘caught between a rock and a hard place’.

The project is expected to cost £64m, with a gross development value on completion of £80m.