The capital’s historic Castle Mona hotel should be added to Douglas Council’s list of dilapidated properties - that’s what a number of local councillors want.
Councillor Betty Quirk pointed out that new legislation will give increased powers to the council to enforce penalties against owners of ruinous properties.
‘It’s just sitting there and no-one seems to be doing anything about it,’ she told this month’s council meeting.
Mrs Quirk also wanted to know if the owners were obliged to pay rates on the property.
Councillor Catherine Turner offered her support, telling fellow councillors she thought adding the historic registered building to the list would be ‘fantastic’.
Councillor Carol Malarkey agreed and Councillor John Skinner told councillors the owners were obliged to maintain it to a ‘reasonable standard’ because it was a registered building.
Councillor Ann Corlett, who is on the council’s environmental services committee that oversees rundown properties, confirmed the owners do pay rates on the building but said there was no reason, in principle, why it could not be put on the list.
Speaking after the meeting, Mrs Corlett said the next move would be for council inspectors to examine the building and make any recommendations regarding work needed to tidy it up.
‘As far as we are aware, it is structurally sound,’ she said.
If any work recommended is carried out, that is the end of the matter, she said. If not, the building goes on the council’s list of dilapidated or rundown properties. This means it is monitored and if improvements are not made court action may be taken.
Sefton Group chief executive Brett Martin was surprised by the council’s stance but said so far no approach had been made to his company, which owns the former hotel.
‘If they want to send someone round, that’s not a problem. It’s certainly not a dilapidated building. It’s a closed building but it is maintained,’ he said.
The hotel was closed in 2006 by previous owners, Skyland Investments, taking staff and guests by surprise.
The Sefton Group bought the building, reportedly for around £4 million, in February 2007 with plans to turn it into a four-star hotel but following the downturn in the economy this did not happen and it has remained closed ever since.
Plans for the Manx Education Foundation to use the building as an ICT training centre also fell through in 2013.
Currently the building’s boarded-up windows and security fencing around the car park lend it a neglected air, but Mr Martin said this had been necessary to protect it.
‘We had a couple of break-ins and some damage was done so that’s what prompted those measures. It’s a necessary evil,’ he said.
‘The building has regular maintenance checks and work has been done on the roof several times to ensure it is water-tight.
‘But the key to the Castle Mona is finding a sustainable use.’
Formerly the Duke of Athol’s private house, dating from the early 19th century, the original building, with its 20th century additions, is difficult to operate as a modern hotel, he said.
In recent years the hotel’s grand ballroom was used for shooting some scenes for the feature film Spooks.
The Manx Independent asked if access could be given to the newspaper’s photographer to take some interior photographs to show readers the current state of the building inside but the request was declined.
The property is currently on the market with UK estate agents Lambert Smith Hampton. The advertisement is marked ‘POA’ (price on application) but this is likely to be ‘substantiallty below’ the original £4 million price tag.