Westmoreland Village

[asitis]

On 2/18/2023 at 10:11 AM, CallMeCurious said:

Who wants to develop housing and brownfield sites in the decrepit and failing capital when there is all this lush green field sites where you can throw them up with the bare mininimum of infrastructure (tax payer will foot the bill) on a postage stamp with little to no real amenities within walking distance and get to walk away with a fat wad of cash? Pretty much guarenteed coz you can bin anyone who has paid a deposit and bump the prices whenever you want.

Considering government are having to bribe developers with actual cash and throwing adjacent sites at them to get any traction on brownfield sites after decades of growth whilst trying to impose all manner of caveats and heritage rules on those same developers is like pushing water uphill. The empty offices, shops and the stalled developments on Strand Street* and the never ending Victoria Street project 

*At least they built something and didn't just add more concrete to the town square/carpark/ /1888 concert venue. 

Much like I suspect the Ballasalla surgery will no doubt end up in a new public monolith a la Braddan along with other essential services like the commsioners and a chemist at tax payers expense at great cost because it 'suddenly' became apparent the old amenities couldn't handle the hundreds of new residents that 'unexpectedly' moved into the area.

I say stop wasting time, effort and money on brownfield nonsense at the taxpayers expense and full steam ahead with all the green field sites so everyone can live in the modern warrens with a nice view of the... neighbouring warren. 

Developers or at least a developer has become toxic, and is adding nothing to the island nor its needs !

I should add, compliant and cheerleading politicos haven't helped the situation either. For years developers have got exactly what they wanted, which of course is what is best for their bottom line. Infrastructure, environmental damage and the needs of the population have not entered the equation.

Ballasalla a sad case in point, the Dr's, which for years has been a fine practice, suddenly has to dump it's clients who do not live on the doorstep and is on the point of collapse, soon to be staffed by Manx Care Locums instead of your "family doctor". The school I am told is under huge pressure, and looking unsustainable for places in the future. The promised bypass ( a nonsense just easy access to more green land ) was used as a lever to get our intellectually challenged, then, MHK on board. No one has ever explained to me how we needed a bypass to solve a problem that caused a minor delay for a short period in the morning and in the evening, nor how they are going to persuade a huge volume of traffic which comes into the village via the Poachers Pocket road, to turn right at ye olde bakery, drive towards the airport and take the bypass to join a roundabout, which it has already ignored by not turning left at the Whitestone ! Of course even ignoring the fact the traffic will just go via St Marks as it has done for eons.

What Ballasalla needed before the 400 houses or thereabouts was a new staffed doctors, a school and all the other infrastructure needed to support a village being built on a village ! Of course no one had the stones to state these glaringly obvious facts and Dandara rub their hands together again !

If we want young people to stay and flourish here we need housing they can afford to get on the housing ladder, we need support services if they choose to raise a family and decent employment. None of these things are being addressed by current development.

Developers seem to have been able to do more or less what they want where they want, but try and fight through planning as a private individual and it is a nightmare !

I am not against development in any way and modern energy efficient homes are the way to go, however development needs to be done in a way which enhances the islands product on offer, not simply enhances the profits of the developer.

Better get coffee LOL !!!

 

 

[english zloty]

9 hours ago, Omobono said:

the price of the scaffolding on the Nurses home must be astronomical  its been up almost  7 months now and practically not been  used yet ,   its hardly  a business like project  must be plenty of extras being earned for the Mates  ,   this job should never have been started while the rest of the building industry  is so overheated , it will never be value for money , but never mind its only the good old taxpayers being  for a ride ,  

Nearer 12 months I think, because they started to scaffold before they had planning permission, knowing that they would be able to get it despite a lack of parking provision.

Funny thing is the rumours are that the Old Nurses Home will have to come down. 

[2112]

2 minutes ago, english zloty said:

Nearer 12 months I think, because they started to scaffold before they had planning permission, knowing that they would be able to get it despite a lack of parking provision.

Funny thing is the rumours are that the Old Nurses Home will have to come down. 

If those rumours are correct, then the costs to rebuild will be horrendous, in addition to the costs already incurred. As Treasury are shareholders (in turn its taxpayers), and it’s run at ‘arms length’, there is likely to be no real accountability. 

[CallMeCurious]

24 minutes ago, english zloty said:

Nearer 12 months I think, because they started to scaffold before they had planning permission, knowing that they would be able to get it despite a lack of parking provision.

Funny thing is the rumours are that the Old Nurses Home will have to come down. 

Old Nurses Home is that a new government white elephant where we put retired nurses out to pasture and people turn up to feed them carrots and oats? 🤔

 

[WTF]

Just now, CallMeCurious said:

Old Nurses Home is that a new government white elephant where we put retired nurses out to pasture and people turn up to feed them carrots and oats? 🤔

 

nurses like their oats.

[english zloty]

Fire engine at old nurses home. Insurance job? 😂😂

Edited March 18, 2023 by english zloty

[MrGarrison]

On 3/16/2023 at 9:11 AM, 2112 said:

If those rumours are correct, then the costs to rebuild will be horrendous, in addition to the costs already incurred. As Treasury are shareholders (in turn its taxpayers), and it’s run at ‘arms length’, there is likely to be no real accountability. 

It would also be good if DBC could explain how they will be securing 55 units on this site and the price that they will be paying for said units. That would seem to be a fundamental cost issue to do with this whole plan. Not least because Councillor Pitts has publicly said that they haven’t even been approached to buy or let these 50 odd units yet. But never mind maybe it’s a deal that’s been done by the building controllers that nobody has any visibility over at all. If so maybe we’ll all find out about it in 5 or 10 years time after everyone’s had their earn out. 

[Stu Peters]

I may have got the wrong end of the stick but I did ask MDC about the Nurse's Home and was told (IIRC) that yes, it only has a remaining life of 25 years but the investment in it will be recouped within that time so it's worth doing.

I used to live next door to it so know the area well. I am in favour of developing brownfield sites, but I think that by any metric this is an overdevelopment and based on flawed ideology like Active Travel. As I understand it a private developer woud only be allowed to build a quarter the number of dwellings on that site and have to comply with all sorts of requirements like sufficient parking (in the real world) and a reasonable amount of green space/leisure areas.

Edited March 18, 2023 by Stu Peters
Typo

[Dirty Buggane]

Again a developer has someone's ear in planning. And a nice property in france/portugal from the profits.

[Mercenary]

6 hours ago, Stu Peters said:

I may have got the wrong end of the stick but I did ask MDC about the Nurse's Home and was told (IIRC) that yes, it only has a remaining life of 25 years but the investment in it will be recouped within that time so it's worth doing.

I used to live next door to it so know the area well. I am in favour of developing brownfield sites, but I think that by any metric this is an overdevelopment and based on flawed ideology like Active Travel. As I understand it a private developer woud only be allowed to build a quarter the number of dwellings on that site and have to comply with all sorts of requirements like sufficient parking (in the real world) and a reasonable amount of green space/leisure areas.

Well with all due respect @Stu, you are the politician and the one that's meant to navigate through the conflicting 'in favour of developing brownfield sites' and 'overdevelopment..  private developer would only be able to build a quarter the number of dwellings'

 

These brownfield sites will sit empty for another 20 years without something like this as they are no viable to develop. If you say you're in favour of brownfield redevelopment but don't support any measures to make this viable / propose alternatives then it is purely virtue signalling.

[Omobono]

Stu before you go any further ,take a look at the Eastern  Sector  plan , that will be used by  a planning inspector  when this application goes to appeal ,  this plan was only approved recently by Tynwald  and states the numbers of dwellings  on this site  should be less than 40 , never mind what delusional numbers   the quasi government development agency  might say , and if the council of ministers call this application in  for determination  in the so called national interest  and ride roughshod over the eastern sector plan , just wait for the petitions of doleance  to start coming , if the scheme is railroaded, 

[Banker]

1 hour ago, Dirty Buggane said:

Again a developer has someone's ear in planning. And a nice property in france/portugal from the profits.

It’s a government agency that’s developing it so that’s just bollocks!

[Dirty Buggane]

Whom will be building it. And whom came up with the idea/design. I suppose they could of came up with this shit in house but stinks of a developer wanting to maximise over use of the site. And with government backing most likely to be a shoe in for going ahead. In fact a developers wet dream, never a chance to get so much shit in one spot if they had tried for permission.

Edited March 18, 2023 by Dirty Buggane

[TheTeapot]

16 minutes ago, Dirty Buggane said:

Whom will be building it

This is a good question. Who are the MDC's ground workers, brickies, joiners, roofers, plasterers, sparkys, plumbers etc? It's a big proposal, they'll need a lot of staff. Everyone is already busy anyway. Are they going to pay better wages and steal everyone from other sites? Import people? Just hand it off to Dandara? What?

[Ativa]

40 minutes ago, Dirty Buggane said:

Whom will be building it. And whom came up with the idea/design. I suppose they could have came up with this shit in house but stinks of a developer wanting to maximise over use of the site. And with government backing most likely to be a shoe in for going ahead. In fact a developers wet dream, never a chance to get so much shit in one spot if they had tried for permission.

MDC did the design.  What are you on about?