Just six months after the Infrastructure Minister appeared to close the door on reinstating some of the islands former railway bridges, a Tynwald committee has recommended a rethink.

The plan had been for steel bridges to be installed at Glen Wyllin, Glen Mooar and across the A1 near Ballaleece, St John’s.

In August, Chris Thomas said the scheme was dead, citing rises in material and construction prices. He also said this had been announced in December 2021.

Click here to read our story on that.

However, the Environment and Infrastructure Policy Review Committee said it was ‘unclear where this announcement was published’.

It added: ‘In that same response, Minister Thomas said that funding of £2.06 million was approved to replace the bridges. This is at odds with the £1.3 million figure in the Department’s press release of August 2020. The £1.3 million figure was also reaffirmed by then Minister [Tim] Crookall in Tynwald in December 2021, strangely, around the same time that Mr Thomas said that the bridges initiative was dropped.’

The committee, chaired by Rob Mercer MLC, said that the cycle path that was intended on the old Peel line would have been the second longest in the British Isles and said it was ‘another potential selling point for the Island that is no longer being pursued’ and that ‘heritage/health tourism is a co-benefit of active travel’.

The DoI has released images of the bridges it intends to reintroduce as part of a new walker and cycle route

Wanting to check on the tourism benefits, the committee spoke to Department for Enterprise chief executive Mark Lewin, who said his department had neither been involved in the plans or even asked about them.

However he did say that: ‘In general the department supports investment in tourism infrastructure and would welcome appropriate investment in extending and improving the Heritage Trails and would welcome, where appropriate, smaller schemes that could be considered in the short term.’

As such, the committee said it believes there are both health and economic benefits to the scheme and that it is ‘worthy of serious reconsideration; and that both the DoI and the DfE should explore options’.

Planning approval was granted for the plans in August 2021.

The committee’s report is due to go to Tynwald in March.

Read our story about the bridges being reinstalled here.

The release of information about the plans is reported here.