Planners have given the green light for a major development on Douglas’s South Quay, but not all committee members were happy about it.

The application (18/01342/B) submitted by South Quay Commercial Ltd is for the demolition of industrial units situated along the quay and the building of a large block of flats.

The approved application has been heavily amended since it was originally presented. The entire facade of the building has been altered and the former Trafalgar public house, previously earmarked for demolition, will be protected.

During the committee meeting to discuss the plans, members heard from principal planner Chris Balmer that he had received a number of letters in the recent days criticising the decision to decide on the plans yesterday (Monday) for a number of reasons.

These reasons included information added late to the plans which had not been responded to, a lack of response from Manx Utilities regarding flooding concerns and the lack of a engineers report into the cliff face of Head Road which runs behind the site.

Mr Balmer said most details added were only shadow analysis and the issue of an engineers report was one for building control.

The development will not be drilling into the cliff face, there is a space at the rear of the building away from the cliffs.

behind

The lack of a response from Manx Utilities was one that did concern committee chairman Tim Baker MHK who asked for a letter to be sent to the authority who said it was ’not the first time Manx Utilities has been behind the curve’ on planning applications.

With permission being granted, the block of industrial units will be replaced by a seven storey building including a basement car park.

The building will, according to plans, be divided into two sections, one will contain a retail unit on the ground floor, with office spaces and a gym for both private and residents use above it. A wine bar with roof terrace is also planned for the top floor.

The other half of the building will comprise of 37 apartments made up of four, two-bed-flats on the ground floor, while on floors one to five there will be four two-bedroom flats and one one-bedroom flat.

Patricia Newton, representing a number of objectors including the Isle of Man Natural History and Antiquarian Society, said the building is ’overbearing’ and criticised the lack of information relating to the protection and future of the Trafalgar.

Committee member Ian Cottier shared his concerns and said while he could understand why developers who buy land want to ’maximise’ their investment he said the building is ’several steps too far’ and called it ’brutal’.

Mr Cottier added that the building was, in his opinion, ’too high’, by ’at least two storeys’.

He said: ’It is too dominant in a situation where it is part of the gateway to the island.’

And the committee member said he ’didn’t buy’ the suggestion that the building would be better than the industrial units currently on the South Quay.

Mr Cottier went on to say it was ’grotesque’ and criticised the committee’s support for tall buildings in recent months such as the Lord Street and Duke Street developments.

While the former head teacher unsurprisingly voted against the recommendation of Mr Balmer to back the developer, his fellow members chose to vote with the recommendation.

Mr Balmer and the representative from the Department of Infrastructure said they were satisfied at the number of car parking spaces in the update scheme and how flood defences would operate but that finer details such as brickwork and bike storage units needed to be resolved before the flats are occupied.