Scheduled work to renovate Port St Mary High Street are on hold due to a lack of sufficient funding.

This is according to Department of Infrastructure (DoI) Minister Tim Crookall, who replied to a written question asking for an update on the refurbishment.

Mr Crookall emphasised that site investigations and a detailed design cannot be progressed until ‘appropriate funding can be allocated to the capital project’.

He added: ‘The DoI has developed some schematic layout options for Port St Mary High Street, but these are not detailed designs.

‘In order for the scheme to progress, further site investigations are required to establish if underground utilities or other structures, such as cellars, would be beneath the road.

‘The outcome of these investigations will feed into the detailed design of the project, all of which require funding.

‘The DoI will continue carrying out maintenance work to keep the road safe.’

Although now mostly residential, Port St Mary’s High Street is extensively patched, badly potholed and failing in a number of places.

The road is used as a through route for traffic and buses from the harbour.

A £400,000 scheme to revamp the road was rejected in 2023 – by the same department that proposed it.

The highway services division of the DOI put together a business case for the reconstruction of the High Street in July 2021.

But last year Port St Mary Commissioners submitted a Freedom of Information (FoI) request to find out why the project had not been brought forward.

In its response, the DoI said the business case was not supported by the department and so not submitted to the Treasury for consideration.

Commissioners were subsequently informed, however, that it had been given the go-ahead by the department and submitted for Treasury approval.

The proposed facelift for the high street is one of 14 DoI schemes listed in the Pink Book that it says are expected to be presented for consideration within the revised ‘design and feasibility’ process.

Back in March, MHK for Rushen Michelle Haywood planted daffodils in the potholes in the form of a protest at the general state of the High Street.

With help from local residents, Dr Haywood went on a pothole planting spree, filling-in the road gaps using a bit of soil and some brightly coloured daffodils.

The DoI then quickly responded to this by patching over a number of potholes in the street during the following week.

Speaking about the temporary works, Dr Haywood said: ‘This is a temporary solution to some of the very worst holes, and doesn’t take away from the need to get the road replacement scheme approved and funded, but it might delay me buying geraniums for the summer planting.’