Onchan Commissioner resigns from two positions on local authority board

David Quirk's decision along with other matters affecting the village were discussed last night

Onchan Commissioners met last night to discuss a number of issues affecting the village.

Commissioner David Quirk announced he is resigning from the positions of lead member for Environmental and Technical Services as well as from the Eastern Civic Amenity Site joint committee.

He was elected to those roles at the local authority’s AGM in May following an uncontested election in April.

The board was asked whether anyone would like to take on either of the positions left vacant, however no one stepped forward.

It was agreed by the commissioners to wait until the new member, Andrew Gibson, joins as he may want to take on one or both duties.

Mr Quirk said he didn’t want the roles anymore due to ‘personal reasons’.

Clerk Ross Phillips provided an update on a request from the Eastern Civic Amenity Site joint committee to provide staff with four body-worn cameras.

He said the cameras, associated equipment and a ‘cloud based storage’ fee will cost the authority £530.46, which he confirmed is available in its current budget.

He added there will be a yearly recurring fee for the cloud based storage of £77.04.

Mr Phillips confirmed to the board that Douglas Council will hold the footage for 28 days before it’s deleted and staff will have to announce they are recording to the member of the public.

The commissioners unanimously agreed to the purchase of the cameras.

Also on the agenda was a planning application for a new TT campsite on Blackberry Lane.

It was previously unsupported by the board last year due to concerns around noise, emergency service access, the size of the campsite and it’s belief it would be invading the privacy of nearby houses.

The new application reduced it to one field instead of two and proposed a new motorcycle only parking area and included a pedestrian access point.

However, the board decided that its previous concerns hadn’t been resolved and agreed by four votes to two, to object to the application again.

A commissioner’s surgery has had to be rearranged and will now take place on Saturday 26 July from 10am to 12 noon.

Onchan Commissioners will have their next board meeting on Monday, 28 July.