The planning committee has unanimously approved a scheme to redevelop an eyesore site on Peel Promenade.

Seven new houses in Peel are to be built under the proposals (24/00569/B) which will see the demolition of the former Empire Garage Showroom.

The site is at the junction of Marine Parade, Gib Lane and Stanley Road on the Promenade in Peel, with the site being split in two by Gib Lane.

Committee member Peter Young said: ‘It’s a huge improvement to the frontage of the Promenade. I think this is so, so good.’

Chairman Rob Callister MHK agreed: ‘It’s a really good development. It will sit well in the landscape and will develop an area [which is something] that the people of Peel have been asking for for a long time.’

‘What’s not to like?’ said committee member Sam Skelton.

Registered building consent (24/00570/CON) to demolish the old car showroom on Marine Parade and other buildings within the site were also voted through unanimously.

The applications, submitted by Keith Lord of Hesketh Investments Ltd, involves the construction of seven homes on either side of Gib Lane, which will be realigned as part of the development.

A row of four three-bed terraced dwelling laid out across three floors will front Marine Parade on the site of the former garage showroom and workshop. These will have a second floor enclosed terraced area and ground-floor parking for two vehicles each.

Red sandstone will be used on the ground floor, Gib Lane elevation to reflect the area’s exposed local sandstone walls.

The southern portion of the scheme between Gib Lane and Stanley Road will comprise a row of three-storey three-bedroom dwellings of a more traditional design and again featuring red sandstone on the ground floor, Gib Lane elevation.

Jasmine Eastwood, director of McGarrigle Architects, told the committee that the development will ‘improve the public realm in and around the application site’ and ‘encourage more people to live in central Peel’.

Planning officer Toby Cowell had recommended the application be approved, concluding the development amounted to a ‘highly efficient reuse of a brownfield site within an urban area’.

The registered building officer had said the loss of existing buildings on Gib Lane, which had a degree of historic significance, would cause harm to the character of the Peel Conservation Area but this was offset by the development which brought a ‘degree of aesthetic benefit’.

It’s the second application by Keith Lord in two months to have received unanimous support from the planning committee.

In August, Hesketh Investments was given the go-ahead to convert the landmark office block Royalty House in Douglas into a 64-bedroom hotel which will aim to create up to 33 jobs and could welcome some 28,800 guests a year.