Northern Civic Amenity Site to close to residents at the end of March 

It's been the subject of a dispute between the joint committee and Bride Commissioners.

Ramsey Commissioners has confirmed the Northern Civic Amenity Site will be closing to residents on the 31 March. 

There's been a long dispute about the funding of the site between the joint committee which runs the board, Bride Commissioners which pulled out last April, and the Department of Infrastructure. 

Bride's decision to leave, left an 'irreconcilable operational funding gap' according to Ramsey, which it says has been 'impossible to resolve'.

Ramsey Commissioners says the future provision of an amenity site now rests with the DOI and is 'hopeful' a resolution will be found. 

It's also been confirmed there may be redundancies. 

Chair of Ramsey Commissioners Rob Cowell said: "Ramsey Town Commissioners have operated the Northern Civic Amenity Site on behalf of the Northern Civic Amenity Site Committee since it was taken on in 2017. Regrettably, that multi-parish partnership was fatally fractured in 2023 when Bride took a profoundly different view on the funding model that had been in place from the start and unilaterally withdrew from the function.

"This left a significant and, in the end, irreconcilable operational funding gap, which despite tireless efforts has proven impossible to resolve. 

"We, along with the Committee recognise the significant impact that the loss of the civic amenity site will have on northern residents, with no public facility now open to them for disposal of larger waste items that would ordinarily be taken there.

"The future for the provision of an amenity site now rests with the DOI and we are hopeful a resolution with them will be found. We would urge residents to plan for the closure date and endeavour to clear big items that won’t fit into their domestic refuse bins.

"We will also be working with our partners to deal robustly with any instances of fly-tipping and ask that people across the island respect our landscape and refrain from doing so. We also are committed to looking after our staff who are directly affected by this outcome.”

The site is due to be handed back to the Department of Infrastructure on 30 April.