Plans to transform the old Douglas harbour swingbridge tower into a visitor centre could have hit the rocks.
Douglas councillors were told that Lottery funding of only £50,000 could be secured towards the cost of the £500,000 project.
Plans for a visitor centre, based around the Victorian tower which houses the mechanism to power the old swing bridge on South Quay, were first unveiled by Douglas Development Partnership back in 2009.
That initial scheme, entitled the Dhoo Glas Experience, came with a price tag of £4m. Ambitious plans would have seen a funicular railway take visitors up from South Quay to a two-storey complex on the cliff behind, featuring a restaurant and an interpretation centre detailing the town’s maritime history.
This would be linked by a glass-sided bridge to the back of the swingbridge tower.
Subsequently, more modest proposals were put forward which would have seen Douglas Council acquire the site from the Department of Infrastructure to operate a visitor centre in partnership with Culture Vannin.
But in a report giving an update on the scheme, councillors were told that a business case should be progressed only if the project was considered affordable.
The total estimated cost was £509,000, without producing a business case and appointing a designer. But the Manx Lottery Trust had informally indicated any grant would be capped at £50,000.
Based on those estimates, the complex would be required to produce a minimum income of £43,000 a year, and would therefore require substantial support from the council. On this basis, officers recommended that any further work on the proposal was stopped.
Councillors, however, voted to clarify the position with the Lottery Trust before deciding whether to progress or abandon the project.
Councillor Betty Quirk said: ‘If it is left any longer it is just going to deteriorate.’
Council leader David Christian said: ‘The swingbridge tower is still something we are looking into. The DoI want it off their hands. It’s part of our heritage. It could tell the story of the harbour over the years.’