Manx Utilities has applied for planning permission (22/01084/B) to build a new sewage treatment works in Crosby and Glen Vine.

The company said that the existing works are at the end of their operational lives, and also required ‘a scheme of improvements’ to meet the more stringent discharge standards which had been set by the Department of Environment, Food and Agriculture.

Existing works are described as ‘no longer meeting the requirement commensurate with modern treatment standards’.

The new facility would be built on the same site off the heritage trail near Old Church Road and while construction is going on, the current plant will remain fully operational.

Specifically, the improvements would relate to standards for ammonia levels, and to be able to handle the ‘projected increase in the population of the drainage catchment areas’. The accompanying planning statement explains that the existing Crosby wastewater process ‘can become overloaded during rainfall events and is subject to inundation with flood waters from the River Dhoo’.

Unlike the old works, the new facility will also have odour control equipment.

It will include Integrated Rotating Biological Contactors (IRBC) process units, new technology which is already installed at a number of MU sites around the island.

Proposals for the Glen Vine works include the demolition of the old facility, and its replacement with a new pumping station and the interconnecting pipework between Glen Vine and Crosby.