Old flats sale has 'double benefit' - councillor

Selling a block of 1930s-built former local authority flats will provide a "double benefit" to residents in the Isle of Man's capital, a councillor has said.

Douglas Council has announced plans to put the 56-unit building on Lord Street, which has been empty since tenants were moved to new homes in 2022.

Housing Committee chairman Devon Watson said money from the sale could be used to fund the creation of additional social housing elsewhere in the city.

Once sold, the site itself could also be redeveloped in to up to 50 new homes for private rental or sale, helping with demand in that sector to, he said.

Watson said the committee had been "working through" options to either secure funding to redevelop the site, or sell it on to a developer, which would then need to be vetted.

However he said the decision not to carry out the work itself had been made on a "cost versus benefit" basis.

He said the Council could get "more mileage" by using funds from the sale to build homes that meet modern standards on a new plot than redeveloping the original site.

"This is the strategy that we've worked out using our algorithms and formulas that can get us the maximum amount of bang for buck in properties," he said.

Watson stressed that the Council wanted to see the Lord Street site remain as housing, though he said all types of proposals would be evaluated.

He added that increasing the council's housing stock was important to help "renters who are suffering from rent prices", and also to "reduce the burden" on ratepayers by adding to the amount of ratepaying properties.

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