The Rushen Heritage Trust is calling for Port Erin Commissioners to rethink plans to demolish the Cosy Nook cafe.

The trut submitted a six-page objection to the planning application for a replacement Art Deco building in July.

A statement reads: ’RHT opposes demolition now. There is no immediate urgency. The building is not dangerous or falling down and it is uninhabited. If there are vermin, that can be dealt with.’

It says an online petition is overwhelmingly in favour of saving the existing building.

The trust says any demolition should occur only when there is an approved plan and agreed start and finish date for a new Cosy Nook building.

’While much of the current building interior may need to be demolished, the architect should have the option of re-using existing heritage materials or retaining part or all the existing front exterior,’ the trust urges.

’If the building is demolished now, that option would disappear forever. RHT also fears that the levelled site could remain empty for many years, as has happened elsewhere in Port Erin with the former Ocean Castle Hotel site and the Marine Biological Station, both empty for more than 10 years.’

The trust doesn’t like the idea of the proposed Art Deco building.

It wants a ’heritage style’ frontage with modern and enlarged interior and says an online poll backs that idea.

The trust wants the planning application for the new building to be withdrawn.

The application has already been with the planning department for almost five months.

It points out that the current plan is opposed by the principal registered buildings officer, Ross Brazier; the Department of the Environment, Food and Agriculture and the Isle of Man Natural History and Antiquarian Society, as well as RHT.

If the plan were approved, RHT said it would immediately call a public meeting to give the public the right to respond and to agree on an action plan.