Repair work to the steps at Port Skillion off Douglas Head, which have left the beach out of action for months, has been completed.

Douglas Council has worked with private contractors and the Department of Infrastructure after winter storms in 2021, and earlier this year, caused damage.

Local contractor Paul Carey and Sons completed the work and repaired a plinth in the beach as well.

The beach is one of the smallest on the island and the protective nature of it makes it popular with open water swimmers.

Susan Chalmers, a member of the Blue Tits swimming group, which swims there, said: ‘The facility down here is lovely, it’s tidied everything up. This was a bit of a mess here. So it’s tidied all that up and there is a place to put your stuff in. People can come down here, swim and leave their stuff here, get in.’

Douglas councillor and chair of the committee for regeneration and community, Andrew Bentley said: ‘The steps were damaged in the storm, which revealed that underneath the platform was very little and you were standing on three inches of concrete that was suspended in mid-air.

‘Thankfully, the Department of Infrastructure has now rebuilt the staircase and filled under the area so it’s nice and safe.

In relation to the plinth repairs, Cllr Bentley also said: ‘The council asked them to do the plinth at the back as well which had been in a state of disrepair.

‘It was really to take advantage of them being here to avoid any future health and safety issues that might occur.’

‘This was never planned, it was a simple reaction to the damage that has happened.’

Mrs Chalmers highlighted the need for increased accessibility to the beach.

‘A lot of older people swim down there, getting up and down stairs is a sore trial,’ she said.

Cllr Bentley also commented on the future plans for the beach.

‘The council did vote to put a raft in the bay for next summer, the location isn’t known yet but Port Skillion is obviously one of the locations,’ he said.

‘Having spoken to some of the staff on their lunchtime they said they generally would prefer it to be kept a bit more natural.

‘Because there’s no building there we could make it a bit prettier I think.’