Permission for the continuation of work has been granted
Permission for the continuation of work on a £900,000 sea wall in the Manx capital has been granted retrospectively after its previous approval had lapsed.
The 4ft (1.2m) high flood defence, which runs from the war memorial on Harris Promenade to the Empress Hotel, was initially rejected by planners in 2019.
That was overturned by an independent planning inspector at appeal on 1 May 2020, but the permission had lapsed when a test panel was constructed in mid-May last year.
Chairing the committee, Peter Young said it was "ambiguous" whether the works had started within the specified timeframe.
The Department of Infrastructure (DOI) has confirmed while work on the test panel had been carrier out in May last year, the permanent construction of the wall had begun on 25 June.
The planning officer who recommended the approval of the plans, said the wall, which was being installed by the DOI to mitigate flooding risks, had had an original recommendation of 5.9ft (1.8m), but had been reduced as a "compromise".
In his report he said the 0.3 mile (500m) stretch of concrete was intended to be the "first stage of further works" and had been constructed in a way that a further 2ft (0.6m) could be added to the height in the future, with the appropriate planning approval.
He said while the proposals remained the same as they were when the committee last saw them, the war memorial had since become a registered structure.
Objector Patricia Newton said as some of those commemorated had lost their lives at sea there was a need for a view of the water behind it.
She argued approval would set a "precedent" for a wall to be installed across the whole of the promenade and "damage the appearance of the conservation area".
Committee member Helen Hughes said although the wall "cuts away the beach view" and was "suffocating", there was a need for sea defences.
Fellow member Sam Skelton said while he found the structure to be "ugly", he would support the plans as it would otherwise "delay the inevitable".
And Peter Whiteway said although he could see the "injury" it would cause to the character of the area surrounding the war memorial, there was also a "need to provide greater protection" against coastal overtopping.
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