Gov Gives Braddan 28 Days’ Notice

The DHSC has issues Braddan Commissioners with a letter threatening to restrict vehicle access to its new Roundhouse centre within 28 days.

This follows a row which escalated late last year which saw the DHSC and Manx Care say the authority couldn’t use the Noble’s estate for access, despite previously saying that it could.

Following talks with Manx Care the authority has taken steps to mitigate risks identified around visitors to the Roundhouse using the hospital grounds.

However, Paul Richardson, chief officer of the DHSC, this week wrote to the authority to say that the department ‘is not satisfied that sufficient measures have been, or could be, put in place to address the risks identified by Manx Care’.

He added: ‘As a result, the department’s position remains unchanged and we will not be permitting use of the private roads within the hospital estate to access the Roundhouse. Regretfully we are therefore, through this letter, providing 28 days’ notice of our intention to restrict vehicular access to the Roundhouse via the hospital estate.’

The letter went on to state that the DHSC is willing to help speed up a process for the local authority to buy land from the estate to build its own access from Ballaoates Road. The authority was given approval to build the access road after the DHSC and Manx Care originally raised concerns about access to the Roundhouse site.

Responding to the letter, chairman Andrew Jessopp said that in a meeting before Christmas the minister had ‘threatened to put planters across the entrance to our car park’.

He added that the Commissioners has been advised not to issue leases to businesses due to open in the Roundhouse until the matter is resolved.

Mr Jessopp also said he hopes that a solution can be found quickly to help secure access to the building.

He said: ‘I think it would be sensible for everybody to sit down and try and find a way out of this situation before it escalates.’

Howard Quayle

The Roundhouse development has been a long planned for scheme, so much so that one of Lawrie Hooper’s predecessors as minister, Howard Quayle wrote to the planning committee in 2016 to say his department ‘fully’ supported the proposal ‘without reservation’.

He said: ‘Access to the site will be via the hospital grounds and we have indicated to the Commissioners that in their peak times such as weekends and evenings, they can avail of the car park associated with the Palatine Surgery for overflow purposes, and as the problems with car parking capacity around the hospital is well known, and as our peak times coincide with their quieter times, a reciprocal agreement could be a great benefit to us.’