Port Erin Commissioners to investigate safety fixtures for coastal footpaths 

It was one of the items discussed at its public meeting

Port Erin Commissioners has agreed to investigate different options for keeping the coastal footpaths in the village safe.

The local authority is in charge of the rights of way up to the boundary and then it becomes the responsibility of the Department of Environment, Food and Agriculture.

It has also agreed to look at installing netting across parts of the path to help prevent rockfall – similar to what is along the coast road, and to look into steel posts and fencing for the paths to protect walkers.

Chair Hannah Mackenzie said the paths are ‘massively important’ for Port Erin as some of them were used to get to the mines and others are former main roads to and from the village.

She added it’s also key to get the issues sorted as Port Erin is used on the majority of the advertising for the Island.

Clerk Jason Roberts said some costings had been drawn up and Commissioner Jimmy Cubbon said if it can get a capital loan to be paid off for 30 years then it’s a task the local authority should take on.

The board agreed to investigate some more options and additional costs.

Also on the agenda was a discussion about a ‘vision Port Erin’ plan for the village’s future.

The commissioners discussed their priorities for the next few years, which included a splash park, Station Road Car Park, Breagle Glen and heritage signs for tourists.

A splash park was decided as a top priority, but the board agreed serious work would need to be carried out to understand if it would be feasible, including water mains and electricity points as well CCTV.

Walking and heritage signs were listed as a lower priority but could be carried out quickly.

The board agreed that officers should look further into the idea of a water park and new signs.

An update was also provided about the management of residential wheelie bins.

The clerk said during summer, an intern had been chipping them with an RFID tag which will allow the commissioners to monitor them.

He added that the local authority used to give out bins in sequential numbers to manage which households had which bin and how many – but confirmed this hadn’t been carried out for 20 years.

It’s hoped that the tags will allow the commissioners to track bins if they go missing.

Port Erin Commissioners will next meet on Tuesday 14 October.