Local authority to appeal 92-home plan approval

Plans for a 92-home development in Peel were backed by planners this week

A local authority in the west of the Isle of Man has agreed to appeal against a 92-home development amid concerns over a lack of infrastructure to support it.

The Dandara development near the Castle View nursing home and Peel golf club received planning approval this week.

But at its monthly meeting Peel Commissioners unanimously agreed to lodge an appeal after its objection to the original application was not upheld.

The authority's board said the additional pressure on the town's existing infrastructure should have been resolved before the planning committee considered the plans.

'Welcome more housing'

Board chairwoman Christine Moughtin said that the authority had "offered objections" at various stages of the process, and while some of the concerns had been addressed, the town needed more infrastructure "to take extra people".

She said while people in Peel "welcome more housing" and the additional money being "ploughed back into the town" by more residents, increased services were needed.

During the planning committee meeting, concerns were raised by objectors about the already high demand on schools, dentists and doctors, as well as the town's continued wait for a regional sewage treatment plant.

The committee also heard that the size of Peel had grown significantly in recent times.

But Dandara's director of planning David Humphrey argued that public services should be made available in response to population growth, "not the other way round".