Press Release from Douglas Borough Council
It is with very great regret, following detailed discussions and meetings, that Douglas Borough Council is to discontinue the Douglas horse tram service because of the increased financial burden on Douglas ratepayers.
The decision to terminate the service was passed at a special meeting of the Council on Thursday January 21 2016.
The decision follows a proposal by the Council to amalgamate the Tramway Terrace stables site with the tramway hub at the Strathallan site, a scheme estimated, as of December 2015, to cost in the region of £2.9million. When this was received at a joint meeting of the Executive and Regeneration and Community Committees in December, Members determined the scheme was not financially viable and presented a number of unresolved issues, and therefore decided not to progress the project.
The proposal was to finance the scheme by a thirty year loan, which would have cost the Council £4,800,000 over its life.
Key factors determining the resolution to end the service, which comes in the wake of the Council’s budgetary projections ahead of setting the rate levy on January 27 for the 2016-2017 financial year, were the service’s year-on-year deficit, currently running at £263,000, coupled with the associated loan charge equating to an annual impact on the rates of over £420,000.
Council Leader Councillor David Christian MBE JP said: ‘The Council must always act in the best interests of the ratepayers of Douglas. To continue operating the horse tram service would place an unacceptable level of burden on the ratepayer, not only for the coming financial year, but also for the foreseeable future. The Council recognises the important contribution the service has made to the Island’s vintage transport heritage but Douglas, as with all local authorities, is having to make difficult decisions to fund, protect and develop key services.
'The Council has a duty to face and adapt to stark financial realities, to maintain a firm grip on its finances and deliver value for money to the ratepayer. Were the Council to continue operating the horse tram service it would be failing in that duty.'
Regeneration and Community Committee Chairman Councillor John Skinner said: ‘I should like to take this opportunity to thank the tramway staff for their hard work and long-standing commitment to the service, also to the many local residents and visitors who have supported the horse tram service over the years.
‘The Council recognises the affection in which the horse tram service is held, both in the island and around the world, but these are difficult times that demand rigorous examination of expenditure, current and future. Against this background the horse tram service is, regrettably, no longer sustainable.’
The Council will be relocating the service’s horses to good homes and offer the rolling stock to transport museums, either in the Island or the UK, while the Tramway Terrace/stable site and the Strathallan site are to be offered for sale. This will therefore mean that the horse trams will not operate for the 2016 season.
PRESS RELEASE FROM
THE MANX ELECTRIC RAILWAY SOCIETY
With interruption only in time of war, the Douglas Horse Tramway has run along the promenade in Douglas since 1876. Many generations of Manx men and women grew up and died alongside it and it is a unique icon of the Isle of Man, as much of a symbol of Manxness as the Laxey Wheel, the Manx Electric Railway and the Isle of Man Railway.
This coming 7th August the line will be 140 years old.
In any other civilised country the heritage contained in that short line would be seen as being of World Heritage Status. Nothing like it exists anywhere else on Earth. It is unique. When it has gone future generations will ask who were the people who took it away?
The horse line is a vital link in the Summer which gives tourist access between the Manx Electric Railway and the Sea Terminal. At a recent meeting the Minister for Infrastructure was told by one of his officers that at a cost to the taxpayer of about £2,500,000 the steam and electric railways bring in (official figures), £11,000,000 (aside from the contribution of Manx National Heritage) to our economy. There do not appear to be figures which cover the effect of the horse line, but it appears to be a common sense proposition that the horse line makes a similar massive contribution to the economy over and above its cost to the Douglas ratepayer.
In a decision last night, apparently based on principles of bean counting on the narrow basis of the cost of the line to Douglas Corporation without taking into account the massive hidden benefit of the attraction of the line to the tourist economy or the immense harm that the removal of so unique an institution would bring to the reputation of the Island amongst those interested in heritage, Douglas Corporation has decided to be rid of it and to dispose of its unique collection of ancient tramcars.
Not so very long ago the Manx Electric Railway Society was formed to defend the Manx Electric Railway when it faced a similar threat and the public may rest assured that our Society will not stand idly by in the face of this threat to another piece of unique Manx Heritage.
Today, the day of this miserable announcement we have commenced a campaign to save the Douglas Horse Tramway and to ensure that those who oppose its retention are exposed for who they are and that they suffer all of the consequences of their decisions which can be brought to bear within our Democracy.
The time has come for the Government to provide a lasting solution to an unhappy state of affairs whereby the horse line alone has fallen as a responsibility of Douglas Corporation when in fact it is a key component of the National economy.
Our members of the Keys are shortly due for re-election and a number of members are vulnerable to losing their seats. Our campaign is directed at that vulnerability and at ensuring that a majority will act in favour of retention of the line.
To this end we have commenced a petition aimed at reminding our politicians of the immense groundswell of opinion in favour of our heritage and reminding them of how vulnerable they will be to rejection at the hustings if they do not act now.
The on-line petition can be viewed at:- http://www.ipetitions.com/petition/douglas-horse-tramway-to-be-scrapped
We call on all right thinking Manx voters to sign our petition and to save the Douglas Horse Tramway.
The Manx Electric Railway Society
Originally formed in 1973, the MANX ELECTRIC RAILWAY SOCIETY is charged with the express purpose of protecting and promoting the retention and development of the MER and other Island tramways at a reasonable cost. It successfully campaigned for the reinstatement and re-opening of the Laxey - Ramsey section of the MER during 1975-77. The Society became a Registered Charity in 1978.
The Society proposed the 1993 "Year of Railways", a series of events to mark the Centenary of the MER. Initially brushed off by management who had planned "a special tram with some ham sandwiches", the Society persuaded politicians who in turn put pressure on Isle of Man Transport and the opportunity was eventually embraced, producing some 25,000 extra visitors during the year, and inspired a series of follow up events throughout what was left of the 1990s.
In 1999, the MER Society vigorously and successfully opposed a new bus service, the 11B, which would have followed the same route as the MER, leaving 5 minutes before every tram and charging bus fares at least half the price. This was seen at the time as the biggest threat to the survival of the railway since the Ramsey line closure in 1975.
Since its formation, the MANX ELECTRIC RAILWAY SOCIETY has continued to offer help, advice and assistance to the railway, and remains as a resolute and constant guardian in an unpredictable and at times hostile world.
The MANX ELECTRIC RAILWAY SOCIETY is the only Island based organisation concerned with all aspects of Island transport and pursues an active and direct interest through its comprehensive and fully illustrated magazine, MANX TRANSPORT REVIEW. This journal deals with road, rail, sea and air transport topics, and is distributed free to members. As well as a round up of news and comment, the magazine contains special features, historical and technical articles and forms a vital forum for the exchange of views.
In February 2015, the Society officially launched its new website, designed to complement the magazine with historical and political content aimed at promoting interest and retention of the MER, and featuring public and members only pages and online membership to extend further the reach of the Society to a worldwide audience.
https://www.facebook.com/Manx-Electric-Railway-Society-423624317741871/
email: [email protected]
