No conclusion has been reached on whether the former Buchan School site should be treated as previously developed land, with the question to be decided through a live planning application now under consideration.
In a written Tynwald answer, the Environment, Food and Agriculture Minister Clare Barber MHK said it would be inappropriate to comment while application 26/00122/B is still being assessed.
She said any determination of the site’s status, including whether any parts could be regarded as previously developed, will be made as part of that process.
Brownfield?
Mrs Barber noted that “brownfield” is not a defined planning term in the Isle of Man. The Strategic Plan instead uses “previously developed land”, meaning land occupied by a permanent structure and associated infrastructure.
She said this does not create any automatic presumption of suitability for housing, nor imply that an entire curtilage should be developed.
The Area Plan for the South currently seeks to retain the Buchan site for educational use, though alternative uses, including residential, may be considered if the land is no longer required for education and subject to full review.
The site is not listed on the Unoccupied Urban Sites Register, meaning it is not identified as brownfield or previously developed through that mechanism.
References to “brownfield” in submissions supporting the planning application originate from English planning terminology, Mrs Barber said, and do not represent any formal Isle of Man planning designation.
