Manx Utilities says it expects to be on site later this month to prepare for work to begin on the long-awaited new sewage treatment plant for Peel.

When completed, the new works will finally end the dumping of raw sewage in Peel bay.

Manx Utilities’ application for the construction of the works on land west of Glenfaba Road (23/01407/B) was unanimously approved last July. An appeal against the planning committee’s decision was dismissed in December.

In an update, Manx Utilities said: ‘All pre-commencement planning conditions have now been discharged.

‘Contracts with our preferred contractor have been finalised and we are awaiting completion of the conveyance process to gain access to the land for mobilisation to site which is expected to be later this month.

‘Once the conveyance is complete, we will publish our intended construction programme for the works.’

Manx Utilities had hoped that work could start on site in late February/early March.

But the aim is still to have preliminary treatment in place for summer 2026 and biological treatment up and running for the summer of 2027 with all works complete by the end of that year.

At present, the town of Peel is served by a combined foul sewer system, which drains by gravity to the sewage pumping station located off the promenade at Shore Road. Effluent is then pumped untreated and unscreened to an outfall and discharge point in the bay, east of the breakwater.

Manx Utilities has also given an update on a new sewage treatment plant to serve Laxey and Baldrine.

It says it expects to submit a planning application in June this year for the proposed works in Axnfell plantation with construction beginning in spring 2026. Pipeline routes have been modified to avoid more sensitive ecological locations, it said.