MHKs in the south of the Island have expressed their disappointment over a decision to suspend work on a multi-use activity hall which was due to be located in Port Erin.

Rushen MHK Juan Watterson has described the Department of Community, Culture and Leisure's decision as having "the rug pulled under us at the 11th hour".

It was revealed in the House of Keys this morning that the department has stopped all work on two new activity halls which were due to be located in the constituencies of Rushen and Middle.

Middle MHK Howard Quayle raised the issue with Community, Culture and Leisure Minister Tim Crookall MHK by asking if the department had removed the plans from its five year capital programme proposals.

Mr Crookall confirmed that the plans had been removed saying the department had to focus on projects that maintained existing assets or projects which are essential to maintaining existing services.

He said: "This inevitably meant that the low cost activity halls, which were included in the programme at the department's initiative as the provision of new facilities, were afforded a lower priority and were not included within the capital submission.

"In addition the majority of this spend was to be off-Island. The department has stopped all work on the project and we have advised the two applicants who had previously granted preferred bidder status of that."

In March it was revealed that the Department of Education and Children had agreed for an activity hall to be sited on land at Rushen Primary School.

The hall was due to cost in the region of £650,000 to £700,000 and would have provided an activity area of around 35 metres by 20 metres.

Juan Watterson, Rushen MHK and chairman of the bid team, said: "This was a manifesto commitment of ours so we will not be giving up easily. 

"The facility is designed to meet the needs of young and old in the community and to provide a centre for indoor activities - especially in the winter months. 

"It is extremely disappointing to work so hard and have the rug pulled under us at the 11th hour."

Fellow Rushen MHKs Laurence Skelly and Phil Gawne also expressed their disappointment.

Mr Gawne said: "There is no doubt that these are difficult times but the people in Rushen continue to be poorly served.

"All three Rushen members are working together towards keeping a social and sporting facility firmly on the agenda for Rushen and we are hopeful that despite this setback we will get there."

Mr Skelly, who is also a political member of the Department of Community, Culture and Leisure, said: "Every department has had to reduce its capital spending for next year's budget.

"The original scheme had a significant amount of spend going off Island. We are hoping to look at this again to see if a low cost on-Island solution can be found. 

"We are hopeful that this is a delay rather than an abandoning of the proposal."

Mr Crookall added: "If financial circumstances had allowed the expansion of our leisure portfolio I would have no hesitation in supporting the low cost activity halls. 

"Of course it is possible that we may at some point be asked to identify projects that can be quickly progressed using local resources - in which case I will ask that this scheme is re-assessed as a conventional build.

"In the longer term if the funding position improves we will certainly look to reconsider the decision to cancel the project."

Also see: MHKs win support for southern activity hall

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