The Department of Infrastructure has received a number of suggestions in response to its public consultation on the future use of the former Victoria Road prison site.
 
Comment was invited on the Department’s draft development brief, which aims to provide interim planning guidance to potential developers, pending the preparation of the Area Plan for the East.
 
The brief sets out the Department’s vision of encouraging purely residential redevelopment of the site, which may incorporate affordable housing, sheltered accommodation or day care facilities.
 
The six-week public consultation, which closed on 11 April, attracted a range of opinions on how best to utilise the Government-owned plot, which faces on to Victoria Road, Victoria Avenue and Poplar Terrace.
 
A number of respondents favour the construction of residential accommodation, while others put forward ideas for community facilities, including a church.
 
The responses will now be considered ahead of the Department’s publication of official guidelines on how the site should be redeveloped.
 
The land was previously home to the Isle of Man’s first purpose-built prison, which operated from April 1891 to August 2008 when prisoners were transferred to the new facility at Jurby.
 
The old Victoria Road jail was demolished in 2013 and the two-acre site cleared for redevelopment.
 
Member with delegated responsibility for Planning and Building Control Richard Ronan MHK said: ‘I’d like to thank the people who responded to the public consultation. This is a prominent site in Douglas and careful consideration will be given to all the comments we have received about its future use. Our intention is to encourage development that will best serve the needs of the local community and also reflect Government’s national priorities.’