On Tuesday, 21st July, the Department of Infrastructure is requesting Tynwald’s approval for £2.5 million to restore the Douglas Bay Horse Tramway to the Sea Terminal - and finish a job previously approved by Tynwald back in 2017...
Almost a decade on from the first time Tynwald voted to restore the Douglas Bay Horse Tramway to the Sea Terminal (under a previous House of Keys back in December 2017), Item 7 on this week’s Order Paper lists:
“The Minister for Infrastructure [Tim Crookall] to move –“That Tynwald approves an amount up to £2,500,000 for the Douglas Bay Horse Tram Reinstatement to be funded from a transfer from General Reserves to the Capital Financing Reserve with £500,000 to be held by Treasury in Capital Contingency.”
The vote on the motion is to take place during the Tynwald sitting scheduled for 21st July starting at 10:00 am.
Tuesday's vote will take place exactly a week after His Majesty King Charles III visited and took a ride on the Horse Tramway to mark its 150th anniversary.
Last month, in June 2026, Tynwald members voted overwhelmingly in favour of an amendment put forward by Sarah Maltby MHK, supporting the reinstatement of the Douglas Bay Horse Tramway to the Sea Terminal, with the House of Keys voting 21-0 and the Legislative Council 5-1 in favour.The outcome of the vote this time is eagerly awaited.
This will probably be Tynwald’s final sitting under this administration. The House of Keys will dissolve on 13th August before the General Election. Polling Day is Thursday 23rd September.
Tynwald has been debating the Horse Tramway’s fate since at least December 2016, when the DOI sought approval to truncate the Horse Tramway at the bottom of Broadway. There was a considerable backlash and an outpouring of anger, and a campaign by the MER Society—which organised a petition signed by thousands and which attracted 1,341 comments—resulted in a U-turn when in January 2017 Tynwald backed a move by then East Douglas MHK Chris Robertshaw and rejected proposals by Ray Harmer's Department of Infrastructure to abandon the section along Loch Prom.
Despite what at the time seemed like a victory by supporters of the tramway, two days after the initial vote the MER Society predicted that "This is by no means over. It’s going to rattle on…”
If this latest request for funding is approved, the reinstatement scheme has been planned ‘for completion within 40 weeks, but work will not start on site until at least six months after Tynwald approval of the financial motion.'
The delay between the hoped-for political go-ahead and actual spades in the ground is described as being required for 'off-site pre-construction work on structural and rail elements needed for the project.’
As a result it will be some time before we see trams back at the Sea Terminal, certainly not during 2026, the line’s 150th anniversary, not until some time after the upcoming Manx General Election which takes place in September, and probably not until at least the summer of 2028.