A Douglas East MHK has voiced her concerns at the lack of clarity over disc zone boundaries in the area of Noble’s Park.

Joney Faragher raised the issue during Tuesday’s House of Keys sitting, and criticised how long it has taken for the Department of Infrastructure to commit to a thorough assessment of the area.

After the Minister for Infrastructure, Tim Crookall, stated that there had been no review into the disc zone boundaries in the area over the last eight years, Ms Faragher replied: ‘The Minister mentioned that he has been copied into correspondence, so he’ll know that there has actually been quite a lot of reviews and assessments undertaken over the last few years.

‘In 2019 residents signed a petition for a discount to be introduced, which the DoI said they would consider.

‘Also in 2019, the Department committed to a parking review in a letter from the then Minister to Tynwald members. That same year, two consultations were launched - one for residential and one for business parking. The output of these were never published.

‘In 2022, we were again told that a comprehensive review of parking policies was to be undertaken as part of the parking strategy in this area.

‘Could I ask the Minister to commit to his department just getting on with this work without the need for anything more?’

St Ninian’s Road and Upper Dukes Road were two other roads identified as having issues by Ms Faragher, while Mr Crookall confirmed that up to nine pieces of work had been done in these two areas over the last three to five years.

In response to Ms Faragher, he said: ‘In July 2022, approval was granted by the department’s “minor improvements committee” to undertake the consultation process for Upper Dukes Road due to the volume of requests received for various minor traffic management interventions, but this has not been done yet.

‘There’s a long list of work to be done, and I invite Ms Faragher to a meeting next month with my officers in order to discuss these matters.’

In April 2023, Douglas Council installed a parking meter in the Noble’s Park paddocks area and was planning to charge £1 for 24 hours of parking.

But reports prepared for the council suggested this could cause a ‘displacement’ of cars to nearby residential areas, while the police and nearby residents complained about the decision.

The council then decided to stick with the current set up, in which cars can park there for up to 24 hours without a permit, disc or a ticket.

It also agreed to keep the four day maximum stay for camper vans and caravans.