The Snaefell Mountain Railway’s services have been suspended for the rest of the day.

Transport bosses are blaming strong winds.

POLICE and the fire service are warning of a number of incidents of localised flooding this evening.

The area near the Highlander on the main Peel to Douglas road has been particularly badly affected.

The fire service is asking people to avoid the area of Surby Road in Port Erin.

Have you been affected? Have you taken any photos?
Email us at newsdesk@newsiom.co.im

PROUD parents and grandparents who buy next week’s Manx Independent will find a supplement they will want to pull out and keep.

Little Starters – a free, eight-page publication – will contain priceless photos of all the island’s new school starters.

Our photographers have been into reception classes the island over to record their tiniest pupils at work and play. Get next Thursday’s Manx Independent (October 18) for your copy.

Photos can be ordered via {http://www.iomtoday.co.im/buyaphoto|www.iomtoday.co.im/buyaphoto}.

FROM a statue of Manxman Donny Collister in Colby to twinning the village with a town in Crete where he served in the Second World War, there were a number of suggestions to how Manx National Heritage should use his bequest.

MNH held a public consultation earlier this year to find out how residents thought the bequest – an estate in the region of £1m should be used.

It was left by Colby resident John Donald Collister, who died in 2007 at the age of 93.

His personal wartime memorabilia consists of medals, photographs, documents and souvenirs. It is one of the most complete sets of documentation MNH has seen relating to someone who served in the Manx Regiment.

The majority of the 112 respondents were supportive of Mr Collister’s wartime memorabilia going on public display. Almost half (46.46 per cent) of those who cited a place, said it should be displayed at the Manx Aviation and Military Museum, in Ballasalla.

Some 27.27 per cent of respondents said it should be displayed by MNH.

Other suggestions included a mobile display, an online virtual museum, and the British Legion Hall in Colby.

His bequest also included liquid assets of about £635,000, and a plot of land including a large dormer bungalow in Colby.

A wide variety of criteria was suggested to be used to evaluate the benefit of options, projects and partnerships funded.

In MNH’s response, it said: ‘Overall a strong sense of community benefit, both on a national and local scale, being sustainable, protecting heritage and attracting new visitors and income were the most common themes cited.’

Some 26.26 per cent of people thought the bequest should be used for the benefit of people in Arbory/Colby, 21.21 per cent south, 21.21 per cent in the local community, 26.26 per cent nationally, and 6.6 per cent for all people, including visitors.

There was a mixed response to how projects or activities funded by the bequest should be delivered.

A heritage grant framework administered by MNH was frequently suggested as the mechanism for expenditure from the fund, including a partnership approach where projects can be delivered by others.

In total, 44 per cent of respondents said it should be used over three to seven years, 29.5 per cent over one to three years, and 26.5 per cent within the next 12 months.

Mr Collister was a master painter who served in the Second World War with the Manx Regiment in Crete and North Africa. He was an active supporter of Laa Columb Killey.

His will stated he wished for the proceeds from his estate to be used to build a heritage centre or museum in his house or on a field he owned in Colby. Alternatively, MNH was named as a beneficiary.

In January the High Court concluded many of the clauses within the will could not be achieved, therefore the residual estate was left to MNH.

PLANS for regional sewage treatment works should be reviewed says a report which claims plans for them are based on flawed calculations.

The report, posted on the Liberal Vannin Party website, claims government’s plan to create regional pumping stations should be reconsidered by consultants.

But it says the same consultants should not be allowed to profit from the implementation of any recommendations, to ensure impartiality.

The report considers the history of the Iris scheme, which was meant to end the discharge of raw sewage into the island’s seas.

Initial plans were for a single treatment works in the central valley but the location was revised to Meary Veg, Santon.

When the Meary Veg works were completed, however, the flow turned out to be 32,000 tonnes per day, rather than the estimated 20,000 tonnes.

This underestimation meant the works were undersized by at least 60 per cent and would not be capable of accommodating the promised population without expansion.

The decision was taken to create regional sewage works instead of linking the whole island up to Meary Veg, as was initially planned.

But the report says ‘the regional sewage treatment strategy has been adopted by virtue of flawed and misleading information’.

It adds: ‘In all reports prior to November 2007 (when the Meary Veg capacity problem was identified) it is stated that a single sewage treatment works representes the cheaper option.

‘Any modifications or new technology will need to be replicated in every additional sewage treatment works.’

It calls for the regional strategy to be reviewed again ‘using accurate, realistic figures, as the projections used to determine the current project are no longer relevant’.

Providing Peel as a specific example, it claims: ‘Building of a sewage treatment works which discharges into Peel Bay will commit Peel to contaminated bathing in perpetuity.’

It says this is because calculations used to plan the treatment works in Peel, including calculations about the population that would be served by the works, are inaccurate.

And it concludes that by linking Peel by pipeline to Meary Veg clean bathing water will be achieved in Peel Bay, and several millions of pounds in capital expenditure saved.

It says funds should be redirected to rectify the undersizing of the Meary Veg sewage treatment works.

Earlier this year, the water quality of the island’s beaches came under fire in a survey that covered the British Isles.

It recorded the highest percentage (36.8) of beaches that failed to meet the European Convention’s mandatory water quality standard. Peel beach, however, showed it had improved from failing in 2011 to meeting the statutory minimum for levels of faecal waste and bacteria that indicate the presence of pollution from sewage.

The Iris report claims this EC water quality standard would not be met if a regional treatment works is built for Peel as discharges would be going directly into bathing water.

AN INVITATION is being made for singers to take part in the opera gala at the Villa Marina in Douglas next month.

Singers are needed for the Isle of Man Symphony Orchestra’s concert in which they are joined by the Isle of Man Choral Society.

Together they will be performing some of the great operatic choruses. Any choral singers who would like to take part will be warmly welcomed.

The programme opens with Rossini’s Overture to the Barber of Seville. Choruses performed with the Isle of Man Choral Society will include the Humming Chorus from Puccini’s Madame Butterfly, Chorus of the Hebrew Slaves from Verdi’s Nabucco, Habanera from Bizet’s Carmen and the Triumphal Scene from Verdi’s Aida.

Rehearsals take place on Sunday afternoons at St Andrew’s Church in Glencrutchery Road between 2.30pm and 4pm. Music is provided and anyone interested is welcome to turn up. The rehearsals are fairly informal and anyone who enjoys singing would be well received.

The concert itself will include many operatic highlights from such works as Puccini’s La Boheme and Bizet’s Carmen as well as music from well known operatic composers such as operas of Mozart, Verdi and others.

Five guest soloists – two from the Isle of Man and three from the UK – will be joining the orchestra to perform the pieces.

They are sopranos Kristene Sutcliffe and Karen Elliott, Mandy Griffin, contralto, Ben Kerslake, tenor and baritone Alastair McCall and they will perform arias by Bizet, Delibes, Donizetti, Dvorak, Gounod, Humperdinck, Saint Saens, Mozart, Puccini, Purcell, Rossini and Verdi.

The orchestra’s conductor Maurice Powell said the concert provided a relatively rare opportunity in the Isle of Man for an audience to hear opera music accompanied by a full orchestra.

‘Rehearsals are going really well and the orchestra is getting well acquainted with the repertoire. We have now started having rehearsals with the solo singers,’ he said.

The actual performance takes place at the Villa Marina on Saturday November 24.

Tickets are on sale now at the Villa Marina box office or at the Welcome Centre and cost £18 for adults, £12.50 concessions and £5 for children. Alternatively bookings can be made by telephone on 600555.

AN MHK has complained that Eddie Teare MHK, the Treasury Minister, will not be at Tynwald next week.

In a press release, Alfred Cannan (Michael) says that MHKs learned on Wednesday morning that Mr Teare had asked for leave of absence from October’s sitting.

He was ‘away on Government business’.

Mr Cannan says that a number of MHKs have had to withdraw questions directed at the Treasury Minister and these will now be placed on the next House of Keys agenda.

He said: ‘We have received no formal explanation from the Treasury Minister as to what business was so urgent that he has had to absence himself from Tynwald and quite frankly given the economic situation, the latest unemployment figures, redundancies and the controversial Pinewood deal, I find it surprising that the Treasury Minister will not be at Tynwald to answer questions and listen to the concerns of his fellow politicians.’

iomtoday asked the Chief Secretary’s Office where Mr Teare would be.

A spokesman said: ‘He is representing the island at meetings in Toyko involving Commonwealth Finance Ministers, the World Bank, the IMF, and the Small States Forum for Economic Development.’

Mr Teare will brief the media about his appointments when he gets back.

THE Isle of Man is clearing up this morning after flooding hit several places yesterday.

More than an inch and a half of rain was recorded at Ronaldsway Airport.

The south of the island was particularly badly affected and the road in Colby was shut for some time as water seeped into the Colby Glen Hotel and the Spar shop.

A number of other roads in the south were badly affected too.

In Douglas, Leigh Terrace on Castletown Road, was shut for a while.

Readers also reported problems in Baldrine and Laxey.

THE island’s economy grew for the 28th year running in 2010/11, according to statistics released by the government this morning.

The Treasury has released the island’s national income accounts for the year.

The accounts measure the size and growth of the Manx economy and its individual sectors.

Key results from the report include:

Total GDP of £3½ bn

Growth in GDP of 8.3 per cent, or 3.4 per cent in real terms (compared to 2.1% over 2009/10)

Growth in GNI of 6.7 per cent, or 1.8 per cent in real terms

Almost 19 per cent increase in the size of the ICT sector

Another very strong year for e-gaming, albeit the sector providing a lesser contribution to GDP

A steadying in the banking sector and a sizeable improvement in the insurance sector meaning the finance industry accounts for 35% of national income

A virtually unchanged position in engineering, but with some contraction in real terms elsewhere in manufacturing

in the domestic economy, declining fortunes for construction but a better year for retailing and the utilities.

A Treasury spokesman said: ‘It should be emphasised that the accounts contained within this report relate to the year 2010/2011 and do not necessarily reflect the current position of the Island’s economy, although all economic indicators would point to the economy having expanded again in 2011/12, although by a smaller amount.’

The delay in production of the national income accounts arises because they are derived principally from income tax assessments data, which are not fully complete until a year or more after the reference year.

More on this story in Monday’s Isle of Man Examiner

ONE of the Royal Navy vessels due to visit Peel is not coming after all.

HMS Biter has withdrawn from this weekend’s visit to the Isle of Man.

HMS Pursuer is in port at Peel as planned.

A Royal Navy spokesman said: ‘Her commanding officer, Lieutenant Gary Bickley, and his crew will fulfil all the planned itinerary and very much look forward to playing host to the various visiting dignitaries and groups.’

CIVIL servants and Tynwald members have been awarded a pay rise that will cost government an extra £837,000 a year – despite the continuing freeze on the public sector salary budget.

All of the island’s 2,300 full and part-time civil servants plus all those whose pay is linked to civil service rates – including MHKs and MLCs – are getting an increase of 20p per hour – working out at an extra £386 a year for a 37-hour week.

The pay rise is backdated to April 1 and takes the basic salary of a Tynwald member to £37,822. The increase was included in the September salary with backpay to be included in this month’s salary.

With no extra money available to fund the increase, departments will have to find extra savings in their budgets.

Yvette Mellor, deputy chief executive of the Department of Social Care, said the pay rise of 20p per hour will cost her department an additional £124,000 per year which for 2012-13 has not been built into budgets.

‘Efficiency savings will have to be made across the department which will delay some of the planned change projects so that frontline services are not impacted,’ she told iomtoday.

Prospect/Government Officers’ Association members voted to accept the 20p per hour pay offer when they were balloted in August.

Jon Callister, chief officer of the Office of Human Resources, said he was pleased that an agreement had been reached with the staff representatives without the need to go to arbitration.

He said that a per-hourly rather than a percentage raise was intended to be more equitable as it would mean a proportionally higher percentage increase for those on lower pay.

The pay rise, which works at an average of 1.08 per cent, is well below the current rate of inflation. Mr Callister said the total cost to the civil service ‘employers’ was £837,000.

A public sector pay freeze was announced in the 2010 Budget.

But last year civil servants and Tynwald members were awarded a 1.2 per cent pay rise.

The year before, civil servants were awarded a 1.5 per cent increase plus a £200 one-off lump sum to those earning under £25,000 per year after the Prospect/Government Officers’ Association took its 2010/11 pay claim to independent arbitration when members rejected the zero per cent pay deal offered by the Civil Service Commission as part of the public sector pay freeze.

On top of their new basic salary of £37,822, Tynwald members get 30 per cent extra for being a department member (40 per cent for Treasury) and 50 per cent for being a minister, the Chief Minister gets 80 per cent on top of his basic and the Speaker 60 pc.

A number of MHKs have declined to take the pay rise, including the Chief Minister Allan Bell, Treasury Minister Eddie Teare and Agriculture Minister Phil Gawne.

Angela Moffatt, of the Prospect/GOA union, said: ‘We have been catagorically told by government no money will be diverted from frontline services to pay for this.

‘Money is going to come from the existing budgets which have not been increased for several years. Jobs have already been lost and members are fully aware of the situation. The members decided and carry out their wishes.’

Civil servants make up about 20 per cent of the public sector workforce.

A report of the Civil Service Commission to be brought to Tynwald next week reveals that 20,641 days were lost through sickness absence by civil servants last year – at a cost of £2,951,603.

Levels of sickness absence, inevitably, are greatest in the Departments of Health and Social Care at 4,841 days (15.7 days per person at a cost of £692,293) and 2,801 days (10.2 days per person at a cost of £400,533) respectively.

There were 1,525 days of sickness lost in the Department of Economic Development (average of 7.8 days per person) at a cost of £218,095. In the Treasury there were 2,391 days of sickness absence (average of 7.4 days per person) at a cost of £341,964.

A second report to Tynwald, a Council of Minister cross-government report, gives absence figures for all public service workers and shows that a total of 92,894 days were lost at a cost of £14,804,334.

The report also shows that 40 per cent of public servants are paid between £25,000 and £50,000. It also reveals that 31 public servants are paid between £100,000 and £124,999.99, 20 are paid between £125,000 and £149,999.99, 19 are paid between £150,000 and £174,999.99, 15 between £175,000 and £199,999.99, six paid between £200,000 and £224,999.99 and one is paid between £225,000 and £249,999.99.

GOVERNMENT is hoping to increase the value of one of its disused sites by in the region of £300,000.

The Department of Infrastructure wants Tynwald’s permission to demolish the former abattoir in Tromode and create a new brownfield site, to be either reused by government or sold on.

The work would cost £178,000 but valuers have said once it is done the site would be worth £825,000 instead of the £325,000 it would fetch now.

The former abattoir was decommissioned in February after operations were transferred to the new animal waste processing plant.

Buildings on the site are in a dilapidated and unsafe condition.

Should Tynwald approval be granted at next week’s sitting, pre-demolition enabling works to create the base for improved road access on to Ballafletcher Farm Road, using recycling materials from the site, would begin.

The remaining buildings would be demolished, all voids backfilled and the site cleared ready for any future development.

Project manager David Haynes said JCK Ltd would carry out the work after submitting the lowest tender of three. He said, subject to Tynwald approval, the work would begin next month and would be completed by February.

Infrastructure Minister David Cretney said: ‘Now that all of the operations undertaken by the abattoir have been transferred the site in its present condition is life expired and unfit for purpose.

‘Under this scheme the site will be made available for re-utilisation or alternatively be sold as a prime brownfield site with its value significantly increased by these demolition and clearance works.’

AN overheated power cable is being blamed for a fire which broke out in the switch room at Pulrose power station this afternoon.

Staff and contractors were evacuated from the building after the alarm sounded at just before 2pm.

Three fire engines from Douglas fire station were called to the scene.

The high voltage power supply was switched off before firefighters could enter the building with breathing apparatus and C02 extinguishers.

They found the switch room to be heavily smoke logged and located the cause of the fire to be faulty electrical equipment in one of the banks of switch cupboards.

Police closed off the road outside the power station for a time as fire appliances were blocking the road.

Smoke that appeared to have been coming out of the building was in fact steam from routine maintenance operations.

Divisional officer Jeff Looker said the cause of the fire was an overheated cable.

Police say there was no danger to the island’s power supply.

Fire crews were at the scene for about an hour and a half.

BUS drivers have overwhelmingly rejected for a third time proposed changes to their terms and conditions that would mean they would lose their paid lunch breaks.

In a third ballot, 87 Unite union members voted against the latest offer with only two in favour.

With no resolution in sight, the next move could involve dismissal notices being sent out to drivers which is likely to lead to industrial action.

Eric Holmes, regional industrial officer for Unite, said the deal being offered had been brokered by the staff representatives but was actually worse than that which the union had recommended the members accept at the second ballot.

He said the issue would now be handled by Unite’s national officers based in the North West of England. He said he still hoped the issue could go to arbitration.

Mr Holmes said no decision had yet been taken by the management to issue redundancy notices to drivers.

Under the offer rejected by the Unite membership, drivers’ lunch breaks will no longer be paid, sick pay will reduce to being based on 37 hours per week and maximum driving time will increase from 3 hours 45 minutes to 4 hours 10 minutes,

Community Culture and Leisure Minister Graham Cregeen MHK has warned that drivers could lose their jobs if the new terms and conditions are not adopted.

A PROPOSED 20MW on-shore wind farm will increase the price of electricity for island customers.

That’s according to the Green Power Manx Group (GPMG), which has been researching the science behind different types of renewable energy options that may benefit the island.

Instead it believes the money saved by not building a wind farm could be used to save considerably more CO2 in the short and long term.

The GPMG is comprised of Dr Ffynlo Craine, Dave Hussey and Ken Woodham.

They describe themselves as a small group of professional engineers who have spent the last two years examining the science behind renewable energy options that may benefit the island.

It has also looked at the ways in which the island could best play its part in limiting climate change.

In its recently-published policy statement, based on its findings, it states the island has an expensive electricity supply but the gas price is a minor part of the cost.

‘Generating more electricity with the Combined Cycle Gas Turbine (CCGT) at Pulrose could bring the cost of electricity down but the proposed 20MW wind farm will put the cost of our electricity up.’

The group believes output should be increased from the CCGT to replace ‘the more carbon intensive oil used in space heating and transport’, which it said accounts for more than 50 per cent of emissions.

The GPMG believes there are better alternatives to a wind farm: ‘The MEA emits less than 30 per cent of the island’s total CO2 emissions.

‘In the short term a 20MW wind farm could save 3 per cent of the island’s CO2.

‘In the longer term it will significantly increase the fuel consumption of our power station.

‘This will wipe out all of the accrued carbon savings of such a wind farm.’

The statement continues: ‘The money saved by not building a wind farm could finance heat conservation and oil replacement programmes. Such initiatives would save considerably more CO2 in the short and long term.’

The Council of Ministers invited expressions of interest from companies wishing to develop, finance, build and operate a 20MW wind farm in the Isle of Man.

In 2010 a public meeting was held into a plan by UK-based Ocean Electric Power to build an on-shore wind farm on the coast between Jurby and Ballaugh.

The scheme would see up to 10 130m-high turbines being installed, producing 12 per cent of the island’s electricity.

The group believes that the island’s population, culture and infrastructure makes it an ‘ideal’ research and development facility to develop load management tools.

In the statement, it says: ‘By moving away from the existing supply on demand regime that has been the hallmark of the electricity supply industry from its earliest days, we will be able to design a renewable energy programme that is appropriate to our needs.’

A MINISTER told a Tynwald scrutiny committee that he believed the policy to privatise pre-schools had been ‘remarkably successful’ – while another cabinet member said he was ‘proud’ of what had been achieved.

Phil Gawne and Chris Robertshaw, who were both members of the Council of Ministers’ pre-schools working group, were giving evidence to the social affairs policy review committee that is investigating whether the government’s policy on early years education represented value for money.

At the hearing on Tuesday, committee chairman Brenda Cannell MHK read out a letter from the Department of Education, which indicated that the number of pre-school places offered in its settings had nearly halved since the service was privatised. Education chiefs, however, insist this does not mean fewer children are using them.

The letter states that currently 260 places are being offered in department settings, of which 240 are filled. This compared with 405 places that were offered last year when the nurseries were still run by the state.

It says the discrepancy may be due to the fact that some private operators are only offering half-day sessions as they want ‘to test out the market’ – so 260 places does not mean 260 children.

Giving evidence to the committee, Social Care Minister Chris Robertshaw MHK, who was a member of the Council of Ministers’ pre-school working party set up in February in response to public outcry over the privatisation plan, urged the committee to look at the ‘full picture’, or the report it would produce would lack validity.

He said: ‘I’m actually proud of what the two departments [Education and Social Care] have done out of a very difficult situation,’ he said.

Mr Robertshaw said private sector provision was growing, with three new private operators currently and three more in the pipeline. ‘It’s a beginning – don’t judge the end by the beginning,’ he said.

Fellow Minister Mr Gawne MHK told the committee he had been ‘far from comfortable’ with the original policy, but was now of the view that ‘quite frankly, I have to say the policy has been remarkably successful’.

Asked whether he thought the quality of service remained as high, he replied that the ‘straight answer is no’ but he was ‘considerably more convinced’ than he was six months ago that it would go on to attain the same quality.

The then Education Minister Peter Karran claimed that the working group was set up to look at ways of implementing the department’s pre-school policy – a policy which, he said, had already been approved by CoMin the previous November. Its role was not to evaluate the policy or consider other options, he insisted.

The committee was told that the working group was informal and did not keep minutes.

Committee member David Callister MLC suggested there was little point in having a working group if it didn’t consider other options. Fellow committee member Steve Rodan pointed out that campaigners had suggested an alternative model whereby teacher-led pre-schools could continue to be run by the state, but parents would be charged to cover the shortfall in the department budget.

Mr Gawne said a variety of options, including that subsequently suggested by the campaigners, had previously been explored, discussed and ruled out by the education department and by CoMin. He said it would have been ‘quite bizarre’ for the working group to have gone over ‘old ground’.

Mr Gawne, who chairs the Mooinjer Vegger Manx language charity that was subsequently awarded contracts to run four of the pre-schools, denied having a conflict of interest when he was invited to join the CoMin working group. He said he had made his position clear to CoMin and had not been involved in any discussion in relation to the tendering exercise.

Director of education Martin Barrow told the Manx Independent that to date pre-school credits have been claimed for 807 children out of 1,028 listed as eligible. He suggested that far from fewer children now getting a place at pre-school, the opposite was true and that 807 children were getting at least some level of pre-school education – and this figure was expected to rise.

He explained that the 260 places did not include those settings that are not owned or leased by the department.

MARKS & Spencer is looking for 50 temporary staff for its Douglas store in the run up to Christmas.

The push is part of the retailer’s seasonal recruitment drive to take on an extra 20,000 employees across its stores this Christmas – 5,000 more than last year.

Last year more than one in five of the 15,000 recruits throughout Britain and Ireland were made permanent employees after finishing their seasonal contracts.

ST John Ambulance in the Isle of Man is to benefit from a major change of structure in the charity in the UK.

The charity has its origins in the Knights Hospitaller and traces its life-saving work back to the time of the Crusades. Having been forced out of its headquarters in Malta by Napoleon in the 18th century, it was resurrected in England in the 19th century by Queen Victoria as a provider and teacher of first aid in support of public occasions.

Under its full title as an Order of Chivalry – the Most Venerable Order of the Hospital of St John of Jerusalem – a reorganisation in 1999 created the Priory of England and the Islands, which included the Isle of Man, Jersey and Guernsey, treating them English counties.

Now the island, like the two Channel Islands, will become a Commandery, or autonomous entity.

The change will make no difference to the first aid cover provided at events volunteers attend.

However, it means it will be a Manx charity, overseen by local trustees, and will have greater control over its assets, fundraising and policy-making, while retaining links to the best practice, first aid-wise, with the UK body.

The change of structure sees Professor Roger Berry retire from his long-standing role as chairman of St John Ambulance Isle of Man, to be replaced by current Commander, Dr Iain Kewley, chief clinical information officer for the Department of Health.

Dr Kewley’s proper title, in the Order of St John, will be Knight Commander.

Stepping into Dr Kewley’s shoes as head of the operational side of the charity, in the re-titled position of chief officer, will be Bill Castelow.

An engineer with the MEA, Mr Castelow got involved with the charity eight years ago after attending a first aid at work course and signing up his son up for the Cadets.

He undertakes duties at many of the events at which St John Ambulance offers first aid cover and has been a Community First Responder for Ballaugh for five years.

‘I am honoured and humbled to be selected as the new chief officer of St John Ambulance Isle of Man,’ Mr Castelow said. ‘Like many charities in the current climate, we face challenges, including increasing our visibility and our membership, but the new structure should give us more freedom to make our own decisions.

‘I am also privileged to follow on as operational head of the charity from Dr Kewley, who has led us with great gusto over the last six years.’

The Commandery will be inaugurated at a service at St George’s Church, Douglas, at 2pm on Sunday.

Members of the public are invited to a talk by Colonel Sheenah Davies, the Priory of England’s Hospitaller, about the eye hospital in Jerusalem, which is maintained by the Order of St John. It takes place at St John Ambulance Headquarters in Glencrutchery Road, Douglas, on Monday at 7pm, lasts an hour and is free to attend.

A SEARCH team from the island has joined in the hunt to find April Jones, who went missing from Machynlleth, Wales, on October 1.

Jim MacGregor and his dog Star, with Mal Stewart navigating, joined in the search – one of the largest ever carried out and involving specialist teams from across the British Isles – on Sunday.

The team from the Search and Rescue Dog Association (Isle of Man) found the town was covered in pink ribbons and residents were congregating for a church service to pray for April.

They spent four hours searching a forested area near the suspect Mark Bridger’s home village.

Jim said: ‘Conditions were very difficult on the search with dense vegetation, steep slopes and very hot conditions.’

The team were in the area following an assessment by the Search and Rescue Dog Association (England) in the Brecon Beacons. It was an upgrade to the highest level achieved by an island search dog, mountain standard, and involved searching four areas over two days and finding all people hidden in the area.

Jim said: ‘It was really good to join in the large scale search to give back something to the community that enabled Star to achieve the mountain standard.’

The charity has two search dogs on its call out list and two trainee dogs, who receive twice-weekly training. While Jim and Star were away, Andy Dunn and Gary Wright with search dog Max were called out to look for someone in Maughold.

The team is looking for volunteers to go to training to hide for the dogs. Visit {http://www.sardaiom.im.sardaiom.im} or email {mailto:jimmacgregor@snhs.sch.im|jimmacgregor(at)snhs.sch.im}.

THE UK’s Department for Business, Innovation and Skills recently announced that it has appointed Shaun Kingsbury as its chief executive of the UK’s Green Investment Bank (GIB), along with six non-executive directors.

The GIB is a major initiative for the UK and is aimed at helping its transition to a ‘green economy’ – it’s significant to see that the UK is putting real money and infrastructure, and not just words, behind this transition.

The GIB is due to open for business later this year. Mr Kingsbury is European investment partner at Hudson Clean Energy Partners, a clean energy private equity firm. He also set up (and now leads) the Low Carbon Finance Group in London.

He’s no bit-part actor in the UK’s effort to respond to climate change and to play its part in this global drama – credible talent has been recruited to this cause.

So what is the Green Investment Bank, and how will it help?

The previous Labour government originally put forward proposals for setting up a GIB, with the aim of supporting long-term investment in in the low-carbon sector – mostly in new energy (renewables and other sources), and transport projects.

In the 2010 Budget, it confirmed that the GIB would involve both public and private sector capital and said that it would be managed by Infrastructure UK.

The coalition government then announced in its emergency Budget, on June 22, 2010, that it intended to take the old government’s proposals forward, setting out detailed proposals after a Spending Review in October 2010

Where does that leave things now?

Well, the GIB will be starting with government funds of £3 billion and aims to encourage a further £15 billion of private sector investment to give an initial war-chest of £18bn to get things moving. Until 2016, it will be prioritising projects such as offshore wind farms, waste processing and recycling, energy-from-waste plants, non-domestic energy efficiency and the UK’s Green Deal (we’ll look at what this means for the UK, and what the comparable situation is here at home in a future column).

The GIB will be starting its real work later this year, subject to European Commission state aid approval.

This is a year earlier than anticipated, so the UK clearly sees it as a priority.

Why is it focusing on green initiatives, when there are arguably enough other challenges to occupy it?

For one thing, the Climate Change Act 2008 requires the UK to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 80 per cent by 2050 – the GIB is critical of importance in helping government and the private sector pull together to achieve this.

In addition, recent EU legislation requires that 15 per cent of the UK’s energy comes from renewable sources by 2020.

It’s worth noting that the Isle of Man government made a similar commitment in 2010, but to meet the 15 per cent target by 2015.

However, Manx Government sources have said that this will not be met, and in fact was never feasible when their commitment was recorded in Hansard back in 2010 – a sad reflection on the value of politicians’ words.

Despite this, the island’s 15:15 commitment is still referred to in various current pieces of Government marketing literature – we’re still selling this misleading story to the wider world, as well as our local electorate.

Makes you proud, doesn’t it!

The UK’s coalition government has acknowledged that climate change is one of the most serious threats currently facing the world and pledged to make itself the country’s ‘greenest government ever’.

GIB is an important part of the UK’s work in tackling this global challenge, and FoE will be watching how it performs with great interest.

It will be vitally important that the world’s business and financial communities play their part and work with governments, if we’re to come through this in good shape.

Do you see signs of this happening here on the island?

Do you think it matters if promises are publicly made and then broken?

Let us know – and if you’re not happy, join us and start asking questions.

It’s time we held those paid to govern the Isle of Man to account.