Arbory, Castletown and Malew Graham Cregeen/Jason Moorhouse

Malarkey Amendment
In recommendation 6, to remove the words: ‘War Memorial’ and to insert the words: ‘Sea Terminal’.

Ashford Amendment
In (ii) to remove the word ‘Broadway’ and insert the words ‘the Sea Terminal’

Mr Cregeen: Thank you, Mr President.
I think we have all been lobbied by numerous people regarding how we should keep the horse trams. Most of the ones who have lobbied me have said that what we should do is ensure that we have got a single track in its current position down the centre of the roadway, and that is the heritage part of what the horse trams are.

There are a number of concerns that people have expressed about which side and how much it is going to cost. And it includes if we do the Loch Promenade side first and then you do not have any tracking; then, if you have to dig it up and reinstate it, is that additional cost; or would you be just as well, when are doing the Loch Promenade side, having the base put in suitable for installation of the new track?
It is a very detailed document that you have got down through here, and one of my concerns is that the Report does go on to state that the Strathallan building is in a very dilapidated state. It is in a conservation area, there is the possibility of if being registered: is it actually in the right place for future use? Would the ideal place be on the Derby Castle site, where you are going to go straight through, rather than all the track work that you have got in place?

If the photocopier is working a bit quicker) again, I have an amendment* to come through, which goes on to say ‘but should return to Tynwald for approval before signing off any agreement’. The reason I am moving that is because I would hate for future governments to be stuck with another registered building which they cannot afford to keep or are not going to be able to use to the maximum benefit of the economy. That is one of the concerns that I have: that we could have another issue like Queen’s Pier, like we have had on the Nunnery, and any of the registered buildings across the Isle of Man that Government has owned that we have not been able to maintain. So there is that concern. Yes, Douglas Corporation have pulled a real flanker: after years and years of saying they want to work with Government, right at the last minute there you go. As we have said before, they did exactly the same on the Bowl prior to the Commonwealth Youth Games: ‘We are going to go and work with Government, we are going to do all these things,’ and we commit that we are going to work with them and they pass it out over to us and say, ‘Well, you can pick up all the costs.’

I think we have to ensure that any future development, whether it is for tourism, is the appropriate building that we have, and whether it should be a short lease that we have with Douglas Corporation until we can get a final facility that is fit for purpose, rather than transferring ownership of what is in this document said as a liability. I think we should be very careful when we are accepting another liability.

As most Members have now got the amendment, I beg to move the amendment standing in my name as part of recommendation (2) on the Order Paper:

*Recommendation (2) has an amendment in the name of Mr Cregeen, the effect of which is to add at the end the words ‘but should return to Tynwald for approval before signing any 1215 agreement.’ Those in favour of the amendment, please say aye; against, no. The noes have it.

The Minister for Education and Children (Mr Cregeen): Thank you, Mr President. I have an amendment which is being circulated:

To delete the words ‘and the provision of a tramway terminus’.

It is purely just as a housekeeping sort of issue that, with Mr Ashford’s amendment, he has actually left in that we are going to have a terminus in the middle of the track. (Laughter) I think, if you are looking at it, why would you have a terminus with a shop and everything else in the middle of it? So my amendment is just as a precaution, in case Mr Ashford’s amendment does get approved, so that we have actually got something that makes a bit more sense than what we have before us.

Mr President, I think one of the biggest criticisms that came across about the last administration was they fiddled and spent huge amounts of money thinking about the Promenade and did absolutely nothing about it. (Two Members: Hear, hear.) They talked and talked and the only people who benefited out of it were the consultants. Two Members: Hear, hear.

Mr Corkish: Get on with it!

Mr Cregeen: Why aren’t we getting on with it? We have got it here again today: here is a plan to get on with it, but ‘let’s go and throw it back to the consultants; let’s go and have some more plans’. Wherever it is going to go, you are going to have to go out for consultation again, because if it goes on the seaward side, no doubt there will be people criticising the loss of car parking; there will be all the other issues that we have had for years and years about why we have not actually done anything with the Promenade.

I have to disagree with my very good friend, Mr Corkish, when he says things were approved in the last parliament and we must continue with that. Why would we have elections, if we had to agree with everything that the last administration did? Hopefully, we are here to make things better, to change things. That is what we are here for: if things have gone wrong in the past, to try and make a difference.

Mr President, this is actually getting on with something. We can talk about this for another year, because you can bet your life that, if this has to go through planning again, you will be another year; then it may get thrown out again; then you have still had nothing done. So we have to be very careful. If this goes back to planning, the Promenade is going to stay the way it is.

Mr Crookall, the Hon. Member of Council, was saying we are trying to encourage visitors here. How will leaving the Promenade in the condition it is now, for at least another year, encourage people to come to the Isle of Man? Because, quite frankly, we have all said it ourselves: it is actually putting people off, because when they come to invest in the Isle of Man it does not look right. Let’s actually improve the Isle of Man.

I know in my own constituency, with my new colleague, Mr Moorhouse, we are actually trying to clear up the way from the Airport, because we should be making sure that our shop window, where people come into the Isle of Man, is something to be proud of. The last administration did not do that. We now have that opportunity to make a difference and I think some of the things that Council of Ministers have brought forward already in this administration have been positive.

Let’s just get on with something, instead of talking about this for another year and still doing nothing and then filling the pockets of all these consultants – which we all criticise – let’s just get on and do something.
But I just hope that, with a bit of housekeeping, that we can remove the terminus! Thank you, Mr President. (Interjection by Mr Ashford)

The change of the horse trams is part of my departmental brief. I find the decision to open up and redevelop an uninspired section of our capital tremendously exciting: a cultural quarter and transport terminus at the end of the track will enhance the area in front of the Sefton Hotel and will have the potential to gateway the Gaiety and Villa Marina complex – an area to be proud of.

The end of Castle Street will become more attractive to shoppers and investors, creating a new positive vibe in the area. Tourists will be potentially more willing to walk down the shopping street on the way to and from the horse trams, boosting the retail spend, while others will choose to walk along the Promenade or through the sunken gardens producing potential health benefits.

There will be, potentially, at some point, the possibility to futureproof the railway by extending the tracks on Finch Road into the heart of the business community, creating a similar dynamism experienced when light railways returned to the heart of Sheffield and Manchester.

Another reason why I support the exciting improvement to our provision of the heritage railways is that the modern modes of transport will not be affected. I know from my experience in Castletown how damaging it can be for an economy to reduce the amount of parking in the retail quarter. I like free parking and I am not alone.

The shopkeepers in Douglas are a tremendous group of entrepreneurs who need our support and encouragement. We cannot let the retail heart be forced to endure more pain and destruction.

We have a unique opportunity to introduce and extend our retail offering; to create a cultural quarter we can be proud of; boost the possibility of private sector investment; save three times more than the increase in the sewerage rate will generate next year; and most importantly of all, help support and regenerate the heart of our capital.

I wholeheartedly support the proposal.