Peel hotel team says Castle Street Gardens will stay in public hands

The developers behind a proposed boutique hotel on Peel’s East Quay have said Castle Street Gardens will stay open to the public and remain in the commissioners’ ownership, Energy FM has reported.

Wilson Consulting was represented at a meeting of the commissioners, where the scheme’s development and design team responded to questions from members, according to the station.

The plans are for the former garage and showroom site on East Quay. They include a 21-bedroom hotel, nine apartments, a spa and hospitality facilities, along with dedicated off-site parking and work on Castle Street Gardens. Energy FM said the gardens work would be taken forward with the local authority should it want that.

Asked about the future of the gardens, a spokesperson for Wilson said they are “recognised as a public asset” and that the hotel would not take ownership of them.

The land would stay with Peel Town Commissioners, the spokesperson said, and the development would pay for any refurbishment the two sides agreed. Energy FM reported that the detailed design, and how access and upkeep would be handled, would also need the commissioners’ agreement.

The spokesperson said the plot, off St Peter’s Lane, once held kipper yards, stables and outbuildings linked to Kelly’s shop on Castle Street, before becoming a community green space “secured and championed by Jackie Wade”.

The application includes two possible car park sites off Mill Road, one offering 57 spaces and the other 54.

The spokesperson said questions over how the parking would work were “matters to be demonstrated through the planning process”. Those questions include whether apartment residents could use it, traffic movements, staffing and how long it would remain available. According to Energy FM, parking would be resolved before anyone moved into the finished building.

Recognising that Peel already has parking difficulties, the spokesperson said the scheme was designed to meet the development’s own requirements first and did not claim to fix the town’s wider problems.

On design, the spokesperson said the intention was to revive a site that has stood empty for years, offer quality accommodation for visitors and give the town something that benefits it in every season alongside the businesses already there. They said the building’s appearance takes its cue from East Quay’s past as a working harbour lined with warehouses, workshops and maritime trades.