Braddan Commissioners to sign access road agreement this week

There will also be no 20mph zones by The Roundhouse and in Strang

Braddan Commissioners met with representatives from Hartford Homes this week to discuss two proposals in the parish – the Ballafletcher Road housing estate and an extension to the Cooil Road business park.

The conveyance agreement for the access road to The Roundhouse is due to be signed later this week.

The clerk said he had an email regarding negotiations about the land ownership at the Palatine GP surgery but the board agreed this should be dealt with separately from the road agreement.

At the previous meeting the commissioners discussed having a 20mph zone around The Roundhouse and Strang Road.

It was confirmed by the Clerk that the Department of Infrastructure had refused on the grounds that there hadn’t been many accidents to warrant the change and therefore it wasn’t needed.

The board said this statement was ‘nonsense’ and traffic in the area could be made worse by the new development without such a speed restriction.

A meeting was also held with Paul Brew and George Lee from Hartford Homes to speak about the plans for extra units at the Cooil Road business park.

The company has a few plots of land zoned for new units and approval in principle for a spine road to join from the main road.

Mr Brew and Mr Lee also said there will be roughly 10 parking spaces allocated to each unit and there is room for dedicated staff parking if needed.

Chairman Andrew Jessopp asked about street lighting – he said the board generally support dark skies and would like as few as possible to stop light pollution.

Mr Brew and Mr Lee said there had to be street lights around junctions but would install them minimally around the park.

There was also discussion was about the Ballafletcher Road development and the commissioners request for less public open space.

This was granted by the developers and instead most of the land will be ‘meadow’ and will have minimal upkeep for the commissioners.

However, footpaths will be lined with trees and grass which will require more regular maintenance when the estate is adopted by the local authority.

There was also confirmation a cycle path for active travel routes will be built around the back of the rugby club and a pedestrian crossing will be installed to join it to the old railway line.