The news a hotel will be built at the site of the Golf Links Hotel in Langness has been welcomed by the Derbyhaven Residents’ Society (DRS) – but they insist vigilance is required to ensure it does not become a ‘Trojan horse’ for residential development.
iomtoday recently reported that London-based agency Metropolitan Workshop has been appointed to design the new hotel on the site, which closed in 2007 and was bought by Dandara in 2012.
Dandara has said redevelopment work may only be financially viable if it includes some residential properties. Last year in the high court, Dandara successfully argued against a condition (LP21) in the Southern Area Plan that any development on Langness must relate to the golf course or hotel.
This does not, as has been stated in previous articles, ‘pave the way for the development of flats or apartments’ points out Tim Cullen, chairman of the DRS, because the condition is solely about development relating to the golf course or hotel, not residential development.
Mr Cullen said: ‘As a community that has contributed its views to the Area Plan for the South and other consultations . . . concerning the future of Langness and the Castletown Golf Links Hotel site, we welcome the news that architects have been selected to create a new hotel there.’
‘For years now, the Castletown Golf Links Hotel has been a neglected and deteriorating blot on the landscape. Many of us remember the time when it was a place where people from all over the island came to enjoy its restaurant and other facilities. We look forward to seeing a brand new, architecturally pleasing hotel being built on the site, with a good restaurant and scope for leisure activities.
‘We have grave concerns however that the announcement of plans for a hotel is coupled with a statement by Dandara [as quoted on page 3 of the Manx Independent of January 29], that “the hotel must be supported by residential development.” It ... (is) our view that the island abounds in unoccupied apartments and that increased residential housing would place an excessive burden on the infrastructure of the south.’
