Plans have been submitted for new sports facilities at Castle Rushen High School.

The application (19/01140/B) is for four football pitches, a cricket pitch and four cricket nets on agricultural land next to the Castletown school and behind the Witches’ Mill.

The proposal is also for a 3m high perimeter fence and a temporary road for construction access to the playing fields.

The plan is part of a wider redevelopment of the school.

In the planning documents it explains: ’Development of the new playing fields forms the enabling phase to the overall redevelopment of the Castle Rushen High School site.

’Construction of the new playing fields requires early advancement in order to allow for the establishment of the playing fields prior to any planned construction works commencing on the existing school playing fields.’

It will see the land being changed to create two main plateaus on which the sports pitches will be sited.

The temporary road, accessed from Arbory Road, will be in place for the duration of the works, which is expected to take two years.

The proposal would see the removal of a public right of way and replacing it with an alternative right of way in the direction of Scarlett Farm.

The scheme also includes laying pipework under the pitches linked to a ground source heat pump as part of the heating system for the new school.

Plans went on public display at Castle Rushen High School last month.

Education Minister Graham Cregeen said: ’’Subject to the necessary approvals, work will begin on the site in late March 2020, with the aim that the construction is completed by October 2020, and the pitches will be established for use from September 2021.’