The go-ahead has been given for a number of apartments for elderly people to be built at the former Follies Cabaret Restaurant site in Harbour Road, Onchan.

An application by Howstrake Developments Limited for 24 apartments has been approved by an independent inspector, at the appeal stage.

The plans are for a three-storey main block of twelve apartments at the rear of the site, a block of two properties on the northern boundary, and a two-storey block of eleven apartments, including a warden's flat, along the Harbour Road front.

A number of nearby residents objected to the application, with one couple saying the site would be overdeveloped and, with 18 windows facing towards their property, there would be a severe loss of privacy. Another man said the gable end of an apartment block would be too close to his house.

But, taking everything into account, the inspector found the scheme made efficient use of the site, for a development which was needed in the locality.

The inspector's decision has been confirmed by Minister for Local Government and the Environment John Shimmin.