Easter and summer square closure to progress

A local authority in the south of the Isle of Man has finalised its proposals to pedestrianise a square during summer and Easter.

First trialled in 2017, parking in Castletown's Market Square was suspended in a bid to boost footfall, however, a move to extend the closure to throughout the winter months by the previous board of commissioners last year divided opinion.

A consultation on the future of the square, run by the new Board at Castletown Commissioners, received 35 responses and final plans have been published and approved.

Changes include a closure to vehicles during the Easter holidays as well as increasing the amount of time that people can park in the square during the winter.

Changes to the winter parking would see the amount of time increase from the current limit of 30 minutes to a full hour from Monday to Saturday.

Following consultation feedback, the summer closure has been moved around and will now cover the period of 1 May until 1 October, with the easter closure also coming into effect from the Thursday before Good Friday until the Tuesday after Easter Monday.

Chairman of the Commissioners Tony Brown said the consultation had been "helpful for people to understand what we were trying to do and why we were trying to do it."

In Castletown "we have to maximise what space we have got to encourage people to come to the town," he added.

The local authority is also looking for a delegation from the Infrastructure Minister enabling it to close the square for specific events in the winter period.

The proposals were approved by the Board of Commissioners at their public meeting on Monday.

The local authority will now apply to the Department of Infrastructure for the relevant Highway and Parking Orders to be made, which are required to implement the proposals.

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