The Department of Infrastructure (DoI) says it is working to find a way forward for the Northern Civic Amenity Site ahead of its planned closure next month.

Earlier today (Tuesday), Ramsey Town Commissioners (RTC) said the site, located at Balladoole Farm on Bride Road, will be handed back to the DoI on April 30.

The facility, which operates as a household waste recycling centre, is one of four civic amenity sites on the Isle of Man.

It has been marred by controversy since 2023, largely centred around funding disputes.

The NCAS is run by a joint committee made up of representatives from the Commissioners while the facility as a whole is operated by Ramsey Commissioners.

Bride Commissioners, who had contributed approximately 14% to the NCAS’s £480,000 running costs, withdrew from the partnership at the end of March 2024.

The dispute stemmed from claims from Bride parishioners were paying up to three times more than those in other northern parishes due to the rateable value-based funding model - a system the authority described as unfair.

Tensions over the funding model intensified last October when Bride Commissioners accused the NCAS board of attempting to ‘bully’ them into compliance.

Despite several proposals and options being put forward by Bride in 2023, the NCAS board dismissed these objections in September of that year.

Bride later stopped attending board meetings, formally confirming its decision to exit the scheme through a letter submitted via an advocate in March 2024.

Earlier today, Ramsey Town Commissioners confirmed the site will close and the future of the amenity site rests with the DoI.

The DoI has since released a statement, saying ‘positive discussions are taking place to find a way forward which serves the north of the island’.

A DoI spokesperson said: ‘The Department of Infrastructure is supporting the Northern Civic Amenity Site committee and working to establish how the facility may continue to operate beyond the end of March 2025.

‘While it is not possible to confirm at this stage whether the NCAS will remain in use for the forthcoming financial year, positive discussions are taking place to find a way forward which serves the north of the island.

‘A full update will be provided in due course.’

In the statement announcing the closure, RTC Chair Robert Cowell said: ‘Ramsey Town Commissioners have operated the Northern Civic Amenity Site on behalf of the Northern Civic Amenity Site Committee since it was taken on in 2017.

‘Regrettably, that multi-parish partnership was fatally fractured in 2023 when Bride took a profoundly different view on the funding model that had been in place from the start and unilaterally withdrew from the function.

‘This left a significant and, in the end, irreconcilable operational funding gap, which despite tireless efforts has proven impossible to resolve.

‘We, along with the Committee recognise the significant impact that the loss of the Civic Amenity Site will have on Northern residents, with no public facility now open to them for disposal of larger waste items that would ordinarily be taken there.

‘The future for the provision of an amenity site now rests with the DOI and we are hopeful a resolution with them will be found. We would urge residents to plan for the closure date and endeavour to clear big items that won’t fit into their domestic refuse bins.

‘We will also be working with our partners to deal robustly with any instances of fly-tipping and ask that people across the island respect our landscape and refrain from doing so.

‘We also are committed to looking after our staff who are directly affected by this outcome.’