Area plan inspection 'incompetent and inept'

Tynwald Commissioner for Administration critical of Cabinet Office 

The Tynwald Commissioner for Administration has concluded that the Cabinet Office was guilty of maladministration in its handling of a site assessment for the Area Plan for the North and West.

The plan was rejected by Tynwald following a rebellion from backbenchers and MLCs, leaving the areas to rely on various local plans, some of which date back decades. 

In a report due to go to Tynwald, Paul Beckett examined a complaint brought by the owners of a field on Glenfaba Road in Peel. 

The site had planning approval for 21 homes and had been included in the draft area plan open space.

The complaint centred on a site visit by the Cabinet Office on 3 September 2021, after which officers concluded that work on the site had not begun and that the planning approval had lapsed. 

However, the complainants argued that construction had commenced in January 2013, with foundations laid to Plot 18 and inspected and approved by Building Control.

In his findings, Mr Beckett said: "The site inspection of Field 311788 was cursory and incomplete. It afforded no empirical justification for the conclusions later drawn by the Cabinet Office concerning the possible lapse of planning permission.

"It was incompetent and inept."

He also criticised the Cabinet Office's handling of the complaint at both stages of its internal procedure, stating that it had failed to address the reasonable doubt raised when it could have checked the facts with DEFA.

"The Cabinet Office placed the burden of proof on the complainant as to whether or not the site had the benefit of unexpired planning permission and was therefore not 'open space' by repeatedly requiring the complainant to prove their assertions," Mr Beckett said. 

"The responsibility for the accuracy of the site assessment report and of the Draft Area Plan for the North and West lay with the Cabinet Office."

The Commissioner also found procedural delays at the second stage, noting that no explanation for the delay was given and no timeframe provided during the period before a substantive response was issued.

Applying a system called the Wednesbury test of reasonableness, Mr Beckett concluded that the Cabinet Office's characterisation of the field 'does not meet the required standard of reasonableness' because it took into account matters it should not have and neglected matters it should have considered.

The report notes that Tynwald rejected the draft Area Plan in November 2025, meaning the Peel Local Plan 1989 remains in operation.