Highway chiefs say they will press on with plans to relocate the horse trams onto the promenades walkway - despite a readers’ poll suggesting most want to keep the trams where they are.
Highway chiefs say they will press on with plans to relocate the horse trams onto the promenades walkway - despite a readers’ poll suggesting most want to keep the trams where they are.
The overwhelming majority of Manx Independent readers voted for the Douglas’s horse trams to remain on the roadway.
Some 732 voted in our postal poll which we ran a fortnight ago. Of those, 460 said they wanted to keep the horse trams on the road, either in the middle or moved to the edge of the road.
The option to scrap the horse trams entirely was backed by 171, while only 79 said they’d rather see the horse trams on the walkway.
The Department of Infrastructure said it had noted the response to the poll - but insisted there are compelling reasons to support its proposal to move the horse tram tracks off the highway as part of the £21m prom redevelopment scheme.
It said options to keep the horse trams on the highway, either in the centre or on the seaward side of the road, have been considered but discounted as they ‘failed to meet the overall vision, objectives and safety guidelines for the Promenade refurbishment’.
The DoI will submit amended planning drawings this week featuring a single horse tram track located almost entirely where the pavement currently runs adjacent to the road along Harris, Central and Queen’s Promenades.
It says this will increase the area of the walkway by approximately 2,700 square metres, inclusive of the tram corridor.
Other changes, brought in following concerns raised on behalf of the blind and partially sighted, will see traditional controlled pedestrian crossings in place of the courtesy crossings that were originally proposed as part of a controversial ‘shared space’ scheme.
Infrastructure Minister Phil Gawne MHK said: ‘The department has assessed a vast range of options and listened to feedback from the public, businesses and special interest groups. We believe our preferred design represents the best long-term solution.
‘People feel passionately about the horse trams, both for and against, and the location of the tracks has generated a lot of discussion. We have spoken to the operators and believe the trams can be safely operated in their proposed new location.’
The overwhelming majority of Manx Independent readers said that Douglas’s horse trams should remain on the roadway.
In August 13’s paper, we included a cut-out form and asked readers to vote on the options for the historic transport system.
The poll came after a lot of public disquiet about proposals to move the horse trams to the walkway when Douglas Promenade is revamped in a £21m scheme.
The Department of Infrastructure had already made some changes to the scheme’s proposed ‘shared space’ scheme, and re-introduced crossings so pedestrians will be able walk across the road in confidence when the prom is changed.
But officials seem edto be steadfast in wanting to move the trams to share the walkway with pedestrians and cyclists.
Campaigns on social media opposed to this suggestion appear to have made little headway.
So we decided to conduct an old-fashioned postal vote.
In six days we received 732 votes.
Of those, 460 said they wanted to keep the horse trams on the road, either in the middle or moved to the edge of the road.
The option to scrap the horse trams entirely was backed by 171, while only 79 said they’d rather see the horse trams on the walkway.
A postal poll has a lot more credibility than an online one because it really shows the strength of feeling.
After all, it takes a lot more effort to vote in one than it does to tick a box on an online survey, which would be more likely to be manipulated as people voted numerous times on different devices.
For our poll, readers had to cut out a voting slip from the paper, fill it in, find an envelope, stick on a stamp and send it to us.
We’ve examined all the entries and can’t see any evidence of multiple voting by a group or individuals.
The Manx Independent is read in more than a quarter of homes in the Isle of Man.