Protect our natural resources
Douglas City Council recycles its office waste wherever possible and it offers a non-statutory household and commercial recycling collection which includes brown cardboard. It supports the Civic Amenity Site reuse and recycling facilities where, in partnership with Isle of Man Creamery, it accepts cartons for onward shipping and recycling. The Council works in partnership with RecycleCollect, processing its materials with the exception of glass.
Glass collected by the Council’s kerbside system is processed and used on Island, supporting the circular economy at a very local level.
In 2022, the Council introduced a free garden waste collection service. The material collected is composted locally and used by local businesses. This represents a closed loop recycling system where the material is grown, processed and used on Island.
The Council uses vegware and has replaced single use plastic cups and stirrers in Council buildings. The Council has banned the release of balloons from its land and has adopted a single use plastics policy which precludes the use of single use plastics at its events.
The Council will soon be installing solar panels at its nursery to generate electricity, taking us closer to net zero for growing the City’s plants.
The Hazel Court sheltered accommodation complex uses a biomass system to heat the building, using sustainable woodchip as its fuel.
The Council invested in a tree give away scheme for Douglas residents. The Council planted 70 trees in early 2022 to commemorate the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee, undertakes a real Christmas tree collection and recycling service, and in partnership with Hartford Homes, planted over 5,000 trees as part of a micro-forest.
It pursues Green Flag awards for its public open spaces and has agreed a Plan Bee policy which actively encourages biodiversity in road verges through providing naturalised grassland for pollinator habitats and wildflowers for pollinating insects. In 2024 and working in partnership with Manx Wildlife Trust and UNESCO Biosphere Isle of Man, it is launching a Dragonflys' Den initiative to encourage residents and communities to create wildlife friendly spaces.
The Council is gradually replacing live Christmas trees with longer lasting artificial ones, sourcing those made with recyclable materials as far as practicable.
The Council has increased its use of electronic devices and reduced its reliance on paper and printers in everyday operations, as well as recycling any paper this is used.
Develop our economy in a sustainable way
Douglas City Council promotes commercial waste collection of recyclables thereby reducing avoidable waste levy charges being passed on to the Council’s business customers.
The Council extends free library membership for all Island residents at the Henry Bloom Noble Library (HBNL), to boost the retail economy and lead to greater access to and use of the public library’s resources in the heart of the City’s central business district. Libraries are built on a system that inherently helps the planet whilst saving money for the community. They are arguably the earliest recorded means of reducing and recycling materials through books being reused daily by community members. HBNL has a wide and popular offering of e-books, e-newspapers and e-magazines, reducing reliance on paper resources and allowing the service to be accessible 24/7 for people who are unable to physically visit the library due to work commitments or other reasons.
The Council is an active participant in the Government’s apprenticeship scheme, helping young adults to gain valuable skills for employment. It participates in local work experience schemes and assists with the Government’s work placement scheme, which helps to encourage those less economically active back into the workplace.
The Council provides a City Centre Management function which organises events and initiatives to support local retail, hospitality and leisure businesses and promotes late night Christmas shopping for town centre retail businesses through the Christmas light switch-on as an annual event, in support of the local economy.
Support and promote our cultural heritage
Douglas City Council is the custodian of a number of historical monuments and buildings within the City, including the City Hall building; all of these are maintained to the highest standard, preserving these monuments and buildings for future generations.
The Council takes part in the Manx National Heritage open days, opening up City Hall and often featuring historical displays and information related to our rich history as a Council.
The Council celebrates democracy through its public meetings and by installing a blue plaque to recognise the work of Sophia Goulden, a local woman and mother of the famous suffragettes Emmeline Pankhurst and Mary Jane Clarke.
The Council promotes Manx culture and heritage for example through introduction of Manx Folklore into Summerhill Glen; remembrance of the fallen through temporary and permanent displays at e.g. Douglas Head; Archibald Knox themed Marine Garden, the RNLI themed Marine Garden and erection of a bronze Bee Gees statue which has become world renowned. The Council has provided information boards on local displays such as the Fly Wheel next to the Bottleneck Car Park and the internment site on the promenade.
It runs several community events such as the Tower of Refuge Walk, Noble’s Park Fun Day, Hop-tu-Naa (celebrating the Manx Jinny the Witch), the Firework Display (now using more environmentally friendly fireworks) and the Christmas light switch-on. For the first time in 2023, the Council hosted a Beach Day, celebrating the ecology of the beach and encouraging greater use by its residents.
The Council’s library maintains its own Manx collection with an impressive array of books and reference materials covering Manx history, arts and culture, folklore, and natural history. Henry Bloom Noble Library (HBNL) runs several community events each year as well including the summer reading challenge and weekly story time. HBNL has also held locally focussed events such as Cooish, the Manx Youth Bard annual inauguration ceremony, Manx poetry nights, TT exhibits and Hop-tu-Naa crafts.
Make a positive environmental impact
Douglas City Council has been measuring its carbon footprint since 2018/19, has a Carbon Net Zero Strategy and Action Plan which sets out the Council’s plans to reduce its carbon emissions over time to achieve Net Zero by 2050.
The Council has an environmental policy which assists it in delivering public services in a sustainable way.
The Council has changed the lighting in all its public lighting columns to energy efficient LEDs and has remote central management for all its street lighting. It invests in energy efficient vehicles and vehicles with electric components to reduce its carbon footprint. This also reduces costs for fuel. It will soon purchase a small fleet of all electric vehicles while the Island determines which low carbon fuel alternative will be used going forward.
It is investing tens of millions of pounds in creating new housing stock and improving on existing stock, incorporating new technologies that reduce carbon emissions and improve energy management within the buildings. The new Peel Road apartments do not use fossil fuels, heating is electrical with mechanical heat recovery units installed. The new Willaston apartments are being built to a high energy efficiency Association for Environmental Conscious Building (AECB) standard with air source heat pumps, heat recovery systems and solar panels installed on the building.
The Council acts as a hub for the Isle of Man Government’s green energy scheme, enabling convenient collections of household equipment to assist households with reducing energy loss.
The Council is currently installing a paperless e-procurement system.
Green waste material gained from the Council’s own landscape maintenance operations, e.g. grass, hedge and tree cuttings, is composted at the nursery and used in planters and floral displays throughout the city.
The Council has installed free to use public water Refill fountains along the promenade and in Noble’s Park, which will hopefully reduce the need to purchase and use plastic bottles.
The Council encourages active travel by ensuring provision is made in new developments or regeneration projects for bicycle parking and easy access to public transport. Working with Government, it has provided secure bike parking nests in Shaw’s Brow car park and the provision of a new cycleway on the perimeter of the golf course, and it encourages staff who attend local meetings to use the Council e-bike or walk.
It has also worked with the Manx Utilities Authority to provide longer term electric car charging bays within Shaw’s Brow car park, creating a much needed alternative to the more time restricted street based systems.
The Council has introduced flexible working policies which reduces commuter miles and carbon emissions.
The Council is actively expanding its CCTV network to help reduce incidences of vandalism and anti-social behaviour which have a negative impact on the environment.
It continues to improve technology within its back office processing and customer facing services, moving these systems to a solely digital footing, reducing the negative environmental impact of a purely paper driven system, improving efficiency and providing lighter touch communications with customers.
The Council periodically undertakes local Environmental Quality audits which enables it to benchmark its performance against the UK Code of Practice on Litter and Refuse.
It has installed a compostable toilet on its golf course.
Engage with the local community
Douglas City Council educates on recycling issues and assists schools with their eco school programme. Various events are used to educate on recycling as well, e.g. Manx National Heritage Open Days.
The Parks Service held an event in the City Centre to promote World Bee Friendly Day and explain the importance of creating and maintaining habitats for pollinators.
The Council provides allotments for Douglas residents to grow their own food, which is not only a healthy activity but also provides climate change resilience.
It provides community orchards in Noble’s Park and Ballaughton Park which in time will provide free fruit for residents and an educational environment for children.
It worked with residents of Ballanard Court to provide a Community Garden.
The Council provided a creative play adventure playground in partnership with Isle of Play, the first of its kind in the Isle of Man. The site reuses materials from the Council’s Ballaughton Nurseries.
The Council encourages residents to keep Douglas clean, e.g. through Keep Britain Tidy campaigns and works in partnership with Beach Buddies.
Through its warden Service, the Council helps educate the community on acceptable social behaviour regarding the environment such as dog waste disposal, waste disposal, graffiti, etc.
Each Mayor appoints a number of local charities and undertakes fundraising events to support those charities, which also helps raise awareness of these good causes.
Elected Members hold regular surgeries in partnership with MHKs to engage with the public more.
The Council runs several social media channels through which it encourages two-way communication with residents.
It hosted DouglasLive! and sees Noble's Park used for the weekly Parkrun (the only one on the Island).
