Onchan District Commissioners are aware of statements made during a sitting of the House of Keys on Tuesday 26 June 2018 in relation to the Groudle Glen Wheelhouse and water wheel.
Onchan District Commissioners have, on a continued basis, considered the future of the wheelhouse and water wheel structure and have previously recognised that significant structural work is required to restore to a satisfactory level.
The Commissioners invited formal tenders in 2015 which showed that the cost for complete restoration of the wheelhouse and water wheel would be approximately £200,000.
The Board of Onchan District Commissioners considered this cost when compiling a budget for the financial year 2017/18 and again for 2018/19.
Chairman of Onchan District Commissioners, Mr Macfarlane said "The Board have spent considerable time seeking a viable way forward to retain the attraction while remaining mindful that any expenditure must be in the best interest of the rate-payers of Onchan."
"The information available during the 2017/18 and 2018/19 budget setting process was a cost of approximately £200,000 – a sum of that size would have an impact on rate-payers and was hard to justify against other priorities." said Mr Macfarlane
More recently in May 2018, Onchan District Commissioners were made aware of an engineer who is prepared to supervise restoration on a voluntary basis, subject to a volunteer workforce being mustered, with an outline estimated cost in the region of £20,000 to dismantle and rebuild utilising volunteer labour.
The Board of Onchan District Commissioners considered the voluntary proposal with interest where views were expressed that budget has not been allocated for the current financial year and that more detail would be required to verify that an estimate of £20,000 was realistic and achievable. The Board further expressed a view that the costs to the Authority would likely be incurred above the estimated figure once the Authority's resources were taken into consideration in addition to any contingency budgets.
Mr Macfarlane continued "The recent voluntary proposal requires much more detail to fully understand and should not be taken at face value. There is a concern that, without further scrutiny, the proposed estimated costs could quite easily turn into an 'open cheque-book' which would certainly not be in the interests of the rate-payers of Onchan."
ENDS
Words: 373
Date of Release: 27 June 2018
Onchan District Commissioners
Hawthorn Villa
Main Road
Onchan IM3 1RD
Tel. (01624) 675564 or e-mail admin@onchan.org.im