Plans are afoot to give Douglas Corporation additional powers to spruce up some of the borough's more dilapidated properties.

Treasury Minister Allan Bell recently provoked a furious reaction from some Council members after he labelled the capital's centre "shabby" and "downtrodden".

Chairman of the Public Works Committee Richie McNicholl, though not happy with Mr Bell's remarks, says properties in certain areas are in a poor state but many are owned by absent landlords.

He says one recommendation from a report by the Building Control Manager is to abolish the zero-rate policy on empty buildings to try and motivate absent landlords into maintaining or doing them up.

And Chairman of the Environmental Improvement Committee David Christian says they're also looking at bringing in tougher, UK-style legislation to aid their clean-up efforts:


Pictures: Councillors David Christian (l) and Richie McNicholl (r)