Infrastructure bosses have changed their minds again about where silt dredged from Peel’s marina in 2015 should go.

It was meant to be placed there on a temporary basis.

Now they have submitted a planning application to keep the silt at Rockmount, on Poortown Road, near Peel.

The original consent had been granted for a period up to five years, and expires at the end of this month.

The Department of Infrastructure, which manages the site, is now seeking permission for the silt to remain undisturbed, ’having explored possible alternative solutions’.

It says that since closing in 2015, the site quickly became a stable habitat and has continued to be monitored on a regular basis.

Allowing the material to remain in place would avoid digging up what has become an established meadow, and prevent an increase in heavy traffic while it was moved elsewhere.

Officers are working closely with German Parish Commissioners, the local authority for the area, to provide reassurance over continued monitoring and agree a mutually satisfactory resolution.

solution

Infrastructure Minister Tim Baker MHK said: ’Allowing the silt to remain undisturbed is the preferred solution in this instance and a planning application has been submitted to enable this to happen.

’Moving any material into or out of the facility would create a number of issues, and avoiding the cost of taking it elsewhere reduces the cost to the public purse.

’The most appropriate long-term solution is therefore keeping it in situ and agreeing an ongoing monitoring regime to ensure it continues to have no effect on the surrounding environment.’

A new and separate operation to remove 44,000 tonnes of silt from Peel Marina began earlier this year and will resume in spring 2021.

Around half of the total has been removed, and is in the process of drying out in a temporary pool in a field upstream from the marina, beyond the power station site.

The material is being analysed to determine the most suitable location for permanent storage and monitoring.

Rockmount will not be considered as part of this process.