THE north of the Isle of Man is to have a new recycling amenity site at a cost of £1.1 million following approval of the project in Tynwald yesterday afternoon.

The facility will be constructed at Balladoole on the Bride Road and will replace the site at the Point of Ayre. It will be similar to the three existing amenity sites at Douglas, Port St Mary and St John’s but it will operate in a slightly different way to the others.

For the first time, when the public visits the northern site they will pass through the re-use area first and be encouraged to leave useful items for others. At the three existing sites visitors go through the skip area first and then visit the re-use area.

Politicians promised that they would review this situation following a heated debate in Tynwald two years ago when the western amenity site at St John’s was re-designed at a cost of more than £600,000. One senior politician said at the time, “It can be changed easily; all it needs is a tin of paint.”

However, this has not happened at any of the sites until now. A spokesman for the large group who challenged the decision to change the site at St John’s said, “The decision to direct the public towards the re-use area at the new northern amenity site is a good one and finally we are seeing some common sense.

“Why on earth this doesn’t happen at Douglas or St John’s we don’t understand. We’re all still waiting for the promised ‘tin of paint’. ”

The new northern amenity site is “long overdue”, Infrastructure Minister Phil Gawne said when seeking approval for the project to go ahead.

“The existing site is not owned by government, it is too small to offer a re-use facility and it is a long way from Ramsey.” He added that the number of miles travelled by the public to reach the site was also an issue, using up large amounts of petrol which was not ideal.

A debate followed during which most members of Tynwald made a comment, mostly positive, about the benefits of amenity sites. However, Peter Karran, Brenda Cannell and David Cannan all expressed reservations about spending £1.1 million at a time when spending cuts were top of the agenda. 

Speaker Steve Rodan said, “I know that a lot of people on the Island will be listening to this debate and will be, rightly, asking where will the money come from. I think that we need to better explain ourselves far better to the public what is the difference between capital spend and day-to-day expenditure.

“At a time when there are spending strictures on government, we have to explain why money is being spent on projects such as this and why it is essential.”

The vote saw the scheme approved almost unanimously with just the three MHKs in opposition.

Also see: £1.15 million civic amenity site plans to go before Tynwald