The cost of the works to create an access road at the Roundhouse will be around £230,000.

It’s been a long-running subject under dispute between Braddan Parish Commissioners and the Department of Health and Social Care.

Work to build the leisure centre started in June 2021.

Braddan Commissioners had planned to build a new access road leading to the facility but that scheme was eventually ditched.

During the planning phase of the project, Braddan Commissioners submitted a copy of a letter to the planning committee from the then DHSC Minister Howard Quayle in August 2016 which apparently granted staff and customers access to the facility via the hospital grounds.

But on December 19 last year, Braddan Commissioners said it was informed of a ‘last-minute decision’ by the DHSC to refuse vehicle access to the facility.

A notice was issued in March asking the commissioners not to use hospital roads and the car parks, and a threat of a barriers being put up on the site was given.

When work started in June 2021, the project was expected to cost £6.5m but it went £3.4m over-budget, and to pay for it, Braddan ratepayers were hit by the largest increase in rates for any local authority.

The Commissioners met on Thursday and updates were provided on the access road and the pedestrian crossing.

It was confirmed that the cost of the works to create an access road at The Roundhouse will be £230,000, rather than £220,000 that Isle of Man Today reported last week.

Commissioners’ chairman Andrew Jessopp admitted that the final price tag could be higher still.

He added at a recent meeting: ‘The ratepayers are picking up the tab, although I still feel the DHSC/Treasury should be paying half.’

It’s been a subject under dispute between itself and the Department of Health and Social Care.

Following the conveyance agreement at last month’s meeting, the board received a notice of the cost and drainage work that will need to be carried out.

The clerk said there are two methods a ‘gravity’ system or bypassing the system and joining up to manhole cover on Ballaoates Road and into the Manx Utilities system.

£15,000 has been put forward by the commissioners to support the cost of drainage works.

Also on the agenda was a ‘memorandum’ to be signed about the installation of a permanent pedestrian crossing on Braddan Road.

There are currently temporary lights to comply with planning regulations which Commissioner John Quaye said was requested in an ‘illogical’ place.

An issue raised by the clerk was that the government and local authorities can’t enter into a ‘memorandum agreement’ and a lot of the document was blank.

However, chair Andrew Jessopp said it’s currently costing the local authority £750 a week to have them and the agreement should be signed.

Leaky windows in the Mullen Doway housing estate have been fixed.

Previously there had been issues during periods of heavy rain, however it was resolved during summer and the commissioners had to wait for some rain to be able to see if repairs had worked.

The clerk confirmed that the contractors had finished, and six flats had been affected by the faulty windows.

A query was raised by Commissioner Neal Mellon about ‘idle driving’, he said he’d seen an increase in vans and lorries leaving their engines running on Ballaoates Road and Strang Road.

Mr Jessopp said it could be designated but if its enforced, the commissioners may get ‘abuse’.

Braddan Commissioners will next meet on Thursday, September 26.