MHKs to vote on £3m horse tram extension plan

Politicians are to vote whether to approve £3m of funding to extend the Douglas Bay Horse Tramway next month.

At the June Tynwald sitting, members were presented with a business case for the extension of the tracks to stretch the entirety of Douglas Promenade.

It would reinstate the original route of the historic railway, after it was reduced following promenade refurbishment works completed in 2022.

Members approved an amendment calling on Treasury to bring forward a capital funding request to July's Tynwald sitting.

Bringing the amendment Sarah Maltby MHK said further delay would not "produce a cheaper or better outcome" and more likely make it "more expensive".

The Department of Infrastructure (DOI) estimated the extension would cost about £2m to build, but with a contingency allowance the total provision sought was just over £3m.

Middle MHK Stu Peters delivered the business case to members on behalf of infrastructure minister Tim Crookall, who was absent due to illness.

Peters said the horse trams had been "an important part of our island's heritage and identity for more than a century".

If it received funding, the work would be "delivered in a 40-week programme with works undertaken in short sections and outside peak season to minimise disruption", he explained.

• Why do horse trams stop halfway along the original route?
• Horse tram track extension case to be resubmitted

The amendment was passed unanimously in the House of Keys and by five votes to one in the Legislative Council.

Initially running between Summerhill and Broadway when the tramway officially opened in the summer of 1876, the track was extended to the Sea Terminal the following year.

But in recent years Peters said passenger numbers had fallen from about 80,000 a year before the prom refurbishment, to about 45,000 after the route was shortened.

The DOI believed reinstating the line and marketing it to cruise passengers could increase numbers to more than 100,000 annually.

Peters said the project did not make sense "as a purely financial investment for the department" as the "return on investment is too low".

But he said there may be a case from a tourism and heritage perspective.

But some members questioned the level of contingency included in the funding estimate and suggested the overall figure could be reduced closer to £2m.

MLC Gary Clueit said he would like to see the trams extended but questioned whether it was the best use of public money at a time when other services faced funding pressures.

He suggested additional money could instead support heritage sites, hospice services or social care, adding that government funds were "not unlimited".

Treasury Minister Chris Thomas confirmed the Council of Ministers supported Maltby's amendment, but said Treasury concurrence had not yet been given for a financial motion.

He said Treasury officials would work with the DOI to bring a funding paper back to Tynwald in July.

Douglas South member Joney Faragher, who has political responsibility for Isle of Man Railways, said officers had continued to develop the proposal "professionally and diligently" despite uncertainty over the scheme.

She added the design work and planning approval had already been completed.

Tynwald ultimately agreed to ask Treasury to return next month with the necessary funding request, allowing members to decide whether to approve spending on the extension.

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