Plans have been submitted to redevelop the former Scout and Guide headquarters in Murray’s Road, Douglas.
Cunningham House, 60-62 Murray’s Road, consists of two adjoining terraced houses, which would become separate houses again if the application is approved.
From the 1990s, Cunningham House housed a shop for Scout and Guide uniforms and other equipment, and was used as a base for training sessions and for storing equipment. There is also a ground floor flat.
The property, which was jointly owned by the Scouts and Guides, was put on the market last year, with a spokesman for the Isle of Man Scouts Association saying the property was no longer fit for purpose.
Colin Pazera, of Knockfroy Road, Santon, has bought the property and plans to convert the building into two individual homes.
The drawings submitted with the application (16/00157/B) show that one home would have three bedrooms, one en-suite.
The second would have two bedrooms, both en-suite.
Each home would have two parking spaces.
At the time the buildings went on the market, Guy Thompson, island commissioner for the Scout Association Isle of Man, said there were ‘many reasons’ for the sale, ‘not least maintenance but also the building is not suitable for youth activities and car parking remains difficult’.
He said Scouting and Guiding in the island ‘continues to flourish with new groups, sections and units opening’.
Proceeds from the sale were part of the Cunningham Trust, which started during the Second World War when Willie Cunningham (of Cunningham’s holiday camp) bought a property at 44 Circular Road to be used as Scout and Guide headquarters.
He and his wife were the Scout and Guide island commissioners at the time. In 1954, the headquarters relocated to The Hermitage on Peel Road and later, in the early 1970s, a purpose-built headquarters was built opposite St Ninian’s School. Until this was completed in 1977, a temporary headquarters was used at 5 Mount Pleasant.
Cunningham House at St Ninian’s was in use for around 15 years until it was sold due to rising costs. The building is now St Andrew’s Church.