An application for 96 homes in Castletown has been granted approval, nearly two years since it was first submitted.

Haven Homes made the bid (18/00524/B) to develop the corner of Douglas Road and Victoria Road in May 2018.

Planners gave their unanimous support for the application after the clerk of Castletown Commissioners, Hugo Mackenzie, revealed the authority had given its full backing.

Mr Mackenzie also revealed to planners that Haven Homes has reached an agreement to pay towards a planned improvement scheme for Poulsom Park.

This money, the amount of which was not confirmed, would be in the form of the commuted sum it will pay in exchange for a lack of public open space being included in its plans and reflects the close proximity of the site and the public park.

Objectors to the plans had said that the application lacked details on issues surrounding drainage, bus clearance, a lack of evidence for the need of housing at that level and the effect on people who already live in the surrounding area.

Haven co-owner David Lewis told the committee that the company had altered its plans to reach a consensus and that it had designed the estate to demonstrate that it ’wants each development to have their own character’.

Planners agreed unanimously to support the application. Chairman Tim Baker MHK said that it had been ’significant that this was approved through the Area Plan for the South’ whereas other recent applications sites in the south of the island hadn’t been.

Mr Baker added: ’I think it is the right use for the site.’

The mixed development of two-, three- and four-bedroom houses includes 21 affordable homes. These will be in the form of two-and three-bedroom terraced homes on the western part of the nine-acre site.

Haven Homes made the bid (18/00524/B) to develop the corner of Douglas Road and Victoria Road in May 2018.