The Manx Development Corporation’s role remains dangerously unclear, politicians have warned.
This follows a report on brownfield regeneration that exposed deep uncertainty over whether the body is meant to make a profit or deliver public policy.
Speaking in Tynwald this week, Gary Clueit said the MDC’s completed refurbishment of the former nurses’ home, Thie Clag, had “not proven financially successful on a straightforward development basis”.
He warned that a regeneration body forced to hold assets for years to recover costs “becomes capital-constrained, slow, and inherently limited in output”.
Mr Clueit said government must decide: “Do we expect MDC to break even on typical brownfield regeneration schemes? If not, will government say plainly that MDC is delivering public policy outcomes, and therefore will be funded like a public policy delivery vehicle?”
Defined
Cabinet Office Minister David Ashford agreed, saying: “One of the things that needs to be defined very clearly in the next administration is to decide very early on and give direction to MDC as to what its role really is.
“Is it a support mechanism for private developers to be able to develop? Is it a developer itself or is it the construction arm of government?”
However, the minister defended MDC’s record, adding: “I think MDC, within the remit they’ve been doing, have been doing a very good job, and I think they have moved things on that, if they weren’t there, just never would have happened.”
Mr Clueit also highlighted a “fundamental policy mismatch”, noting that MDC does not qualify for the Island Infrastructure Scheme, which exists “to bridge viability gaps on occupied urban brownfield sites”.
He called on government to either amend the scheme’s qualifications or establish an explicit brownfield gap funding mechanism for MDC projects, adding: “We must stop pretending that we can ask MDC to regenerate the most difficult sites without access to viability support.”