A new contract to clear seaweed from Douglas beach has been awarded to Island Drainage and Groundworks.

The company was the winner out of three tenders provided to the council and will provide the service, pushing seaweed from the beach back into the water, from now until the end of March 2020.

Councillor Raina Chatel said she was pleased a new contract had been established and told councillors there had been a ’vast improvement’ in the state of the beach since then.

The chairman of the council’s environmental services committee, which overseas beach cleaning, Councillor Ritchie McNicholl said Island Drainage and Groundworks had provided temporary cover since the previous contract expired in March this year.

He told councillors the cost of the permanent contract was slightly higher than the temporary one because the company was also expected to keep a daily diary of their activity and a tracker had been fitted to the tractor. Councillor McNicholl said the contractors were also taking photographs of the beach to record the state of it each day. At an earlier meeting councillors agreed regular cleaning was essential to prevent a build up of rotting seaweed.