The gardens in front of the Sefton Hotel are being removed as part of the redevelopment of Douglas Promenade.

In order to carry out these works an inbound and outbound lane has been cordoned off with traffic management in place. This section of works will take up to three weeks.

In addition, some underground service ducting work has begun at sections across the Promenade starting at the northern end by Summer Hill.

Again traffic management is in place.

The Douglas Promenade refurbishment scheme’s website and social media feeds are now live. Under the banner of MyProm, the website is https://myprom.im/ with Facebook, Twitter and Instagram feeds all @mypromisleofman

Project liaison officer Mary Doyle said: ’We are keen that the Manx public feel involved with this exciting project and appreciate there will be inconvenience. As we get started we would ask that drivers allow extra time for their journey.’

The scheme is due to cost the taxpayer £20m and will take three years to complete.

The northern end, from Broadway, will be developed on a simple, like-for-like basis.

The scheme includes the creation of a cultural area around the Villa Marina and Gaiety Theatre.

This is in line with the ’Douglas masterplan’ and will connect the promenade with the town centre regeneration.

Work is required to address the promenade’s crumbling infrastructure and will involve the full-depth excavation and reconstruction of the failing highway and drainage, and installation of new water and gas mains and ducting.

The horse tram tracks will be re-laid, with twin tracks retained in the centre of the road from the terminal at Strathallan to a point just north of the Broadway junction. They will then cross to the seaward side of the highway and switch to a single track terminating alongside the Bottleneck car park.

The plans were recently on display in the Sea Terminal and the DoI says they were welcomed when it hosted a presentation for members of the business and hospitality sectors, third sector organisations and others directly impacted by the redevelopment.

The total final cost of the scheme, including money already spent on the completed phase one, works out at about £24.7m. About £2.2m was spent on aborted elements of scrapped earlier designs.

Originally, the horse tram tracks were to be relocated to the side of the road throughout their length. Concerns over the loss of parking led to a plan to move them onto the walkway. That plan was scrapped, as was a ’shared space’ design where there were no conventional crossings and cars and pedestrians would have equal right of way.

While the government dithered about what to do with the promenade, the state of the road surface deteriorated significantly, and it was riddled with potholes.

When he was appointed minister, Mr Harmer ordered the road surface should be skimmed to improve the ride quality.

To read a feature about the horse trams’ last outing for 2019, see this week's Manx Independent. It's in the shops now.