A proposed rebuild of a much loved landmark in Onchan has been given the go-ahead by planners.

The Groudle Glen waterwheel, known as Little Isabella, was removed last year following years of neglect.

Its wheelhouse was demolished completely while the wheel itself was taken off island for repairs.

Last week, planners gave their backing to an application (20/00434/B) from Onchan Commissioners for the wheel to be reinstated and for the house to be rebuilt in a design matching the previous one.

In granting approval, planners attached several conditions including one that prevents work from being undertaken in the river outside of the period June 8 to September.This is in order to prevent the disturbance or injury to spawning fish, or to the spawn and fry of fish, during the season in which they are most at risk.

Onchan Commissioners said it has reached an agreement with Laxey mining company MMD GPHC Ltd to demolish and rebuild the wheel house and restore the wheel in April last year.

Then chairman of the local authority Martin Macfarlane, said the plans had been considered to ensure ’that any expenditure must be in the best interest of the ratepayers of Onchan’.

We reported last year how the wheel itself had been lifted out of the glen by Isle of Man Heavy Crane Services which was brought in by the main contractor EG Services.

Project manager Eric Fyfe from EG Services told Isle of Man Newspapers that planning the removal of the wheel had proved the most time consuming part of the job.

The crane used to move the wheel is a true beast with a 52-metre main boom and a 19m fly jib which towered above the glen.

Built in 1893, with the arrival of the Manx Electric Railway to Groudle, Little Isabella had not turned since 2002 when it was badly damaged in a storm. In January this year, the previous planning application was confirmed to have expired after delays to topological surveys.