A business owner has expressed her shock that construction works have returned to her end of the promenade a year after they have finished there.
Sharon Kenny, who owns the Vanity Fur dog grooming shop on Queen’s Promenade, told the Manx Independent that the latest suspension of parking on both sides of the roads would cause further significant disruption to her business.
The government described the new works, which will begin on Monday (March 14), as allowing the contractor ‘to complete work along the red concrete corridor in the centre of the highway’ – the horse tram tracks.
The work from Queens Prom to Central prom will go on until March 26, and March 31 between Loch Promenade and Harris Promenade.
Ms Kenny thought it was about ‘repairs because it wasn’t done properly the first (or second or third) time’.
suffer
‘The businesses and residents are having to suffer once again because of the incompetence of this project and we’ve had enough,’ she said.
The Department of Infrastructure explained to the Manx Independent that the sealant was being applied not because of cracks (as has occurred elsewhere on the prom), but rather ‘placed alongside the edge of the tram rail to assist with noise reduction when the tram is in operation’, and was planned.
But the new works also involve repairs, with sealant being applied to the concrete edge next to the tarmac road, which has been damaged during construction.
‘This element is classed as a defect and is being addressed by the contractor using the same method, ie. cutting a channel along the edge of the concrete and infilling with sealant,’ the DoI explained.
Ms Kenny started her own Facebook page, ‘My PromBusiness’, (the name mirroring the government’s ‘MyProm’ page) to share the ‘tremendous stories of stress and heartbreaking loss’ other businesses along the prom had experienced as a result of the works.
‘We’re trying to recover now after three years of this [the works], and this is just another knock,’ she said. ‘The issue we have right now is people still don’t want to come down to the prom, I mean even I don’t want to go down there.
‘I think on any proper project they would have fired Auldyn years ago.’
‘I can’t park three blocks away to get to my own shop,’ she added, saying that she would have to resort to parking on the pavement even though the DoI advised her against this.
Ms Kenny said that it was the retail side of her business, which also sells dog care products, had suffered the most – losing around £,1,000 a month for the last three years due to lack of parking.



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