Additional reporting by local democracy reporter Emma Draper

Vehicles could be barred from driving along part of Douglas’ picturesque quayside as part of a new trial.

It is hoped the pedestrianisation plan for a section of North Quay would encourage more people to head to the area.

Currently, from Ridgeway Street to Market Hill is only closed off on weekends and bank holidays during the spring and summer.

The area is also opened up solely to pedestrians when special events happen at the site during the autumn and winter.

If the trial takes place, the restrictions will not affect delivery vehicles who would still be able to access the site between 7am and 10am each day.

Douglas City Council says it will now be speaking to residents, local businesses and customers about the planned trial.

Depending on feedback, Douglas Councillor Devon Waston says the entirety of the North Quay closed to traffic permanently, from Bank Hill to Market Hill.

Douglas Council Leader Claire Wells says the scheme would allow business owners area to invest further in the area.

Castletown Town Commissioners recently launched a bid to pedestrianise the town square permanently over the coming months, an application which has been endorsed by the Department of Infrastructure.

But the proposals have sparked backlash from some traders and residents in the south, with claims that the decision would be the ‘final nail in the coffin’ for many traders.

Elsewhere, a Ramsey Town Commissioner is hoping to start a summer trial of pedestrianising part of the town’s centre.

Lamara Craine is hoping to gain approval from the local authority to close off a short section of Ramsey’s Parliament Street between Christian Street and Crellin’s Lane to vehicles.

Explaining why Douglas Council are looking at permanently pedestrianising part of North Quay, Councillor Devon Watson said: ‘What we want to do is to take a test and use approach, so very often government projects plough ahead, and they don’t consult people, and they don’t always take into account local conditions.

‘So, what we want to do is we want to engage in extensive consultation with the businesses and extensive consultation with the users of these businesses and integrate this into the plans that we have going forward for the city.

‘We want to try things out, experiment, see what works and see what doesn’t.

‘There’s no point going ahead with something that is partially thought out, and there’s no point in ploughing ahead with plans that don’t.

‘I think it’s worth taking opportunities as they arise. So yes, this will happen. Will it be cautious? Yes.’

Mr Watson added that it’s ‘absolutely essential’ that Douglas has public community spaces, and he believes North Quay is the perfect place to create one permanently.

He continued: ‘If you go down there during the spring, the autumn or the summer, what you see is people hanging out near the harbour area.

‘There’s a huge demand for public space in that area.

‘We’d like a public square in Douglas, and it’s absolutely essential that we create public community spaces.

‘I think the problem with some pedestrianisation schemes is they’re viewed as a conflict between pedestrians and car owners.

‘Very often, car owners will be pedestrians sometimes and very many pedestrians will be car owners.

‘We need to move away from that approach of thinking.

‘What we want to do is create a really good city so that people are incentivised to drive in and be here.

‘So by creating these really cool public spaces by creating that investment and by building that infrastructure, we make life better for everyone and more rationalised approach to the way we organise and run our streets makes it a lot easier to create rational traffic for drivers.’

Claire Wells, leader of the Council, referenced the Castletown Square pedestrianisation but said the plans in Douglas are ‘very different’.

She said: ‘At the end of the day, I used to work in Castletown and I enjoyed the square when it was closed, but that’s really down to them to decide what they want to do.

‘We are trying to do what works for us and our city is very different to Castletown.

‘We don’t have a square that we can close off for people to go and sit in.

‘So we’re trying to create an area that is useful for people who want to go out and socialise.

‘I think socialisation is something that we need to bring back into the city since Covid people don’t go out as much as they used to, people stay at home, they don’t meet their friends. And when they do go out, we want to give them an environment that they are happy to go into and be safe in.’