A dispute over who owns a section of beach in Port St Mary has been raised in Tynwald.

Village commissioners believed there is ’compelling’ evidence to pursue a legal challenge over the ownership of the section of beach by the Shore Road Underway on which a small car parking area has been created.

At a public meeting at the village’s town hall last month, commissioner Alec Merchant revealed the results of his 18-month long research into the history of the site.

The car park was created at the top of the beach to satisfy a condition of planning approval for two houses at the Underway below the Bay View Hotel.

It’s not disputed that the owners of the Bay View Brow and beach have valid title and valid planning consent dating to 2012.

But Mr Merchant’s research had led him to believe the section of beach on which the car park had been built is still owned by the government. He could find no further transfer of land after late Victorian times when land was transferred from the Commissioner of Her Majesty’s Woods and Forests to the Isle of Man Harbour Commissioners.

In Tynwald the issue was raised by Rushen MHK Juan Watterson, who asked Attorney General John Quinn to check whether there had been any further land sold since around 1890.

In his written reply, Mr Quinn confirmed there has been only one sale of land since 1886. This took place in 1984 and conveyed a small piece of land within a residential property at Shore Road/Athol Place, from the Harbour Board to the then property owner.

The then Harbour Board has also entered into two separate licences, in 1984 and 1985, with the same property owner which related to areas of garden adjacent to this same property. A lease was also granted for the shellfish factory at Alfred Pier.

Mr Quinn added: ’The level of detail contained in the plans to the deed of conveyance, leases and licences are insufficient for me to conclusively state whether they included part of the shore. I can however confirm the areas of land are close to the shore line.’

He said the Harbour Board would have had the legal powers, with the Harbours Act 1961 allowing the lease of land for up to 21 years. A new Harbours Act in 1989 prohibits the disposal of land on the foreshore.

Mr Merchant said he believed they were a step closer to establishing the facts.