A birding charity has tweeted concern over the decision to keep a landfill site open.

Wright’s Pit North in Bride adjoins the new nature reserve at Point of Ayre which Manx Birdlife is preparing to open.

Infrastructure Minister Tim Baker announced in the House of Keys last month that the tip will have to stay open for the time being - as no progress has been made on finding an alternative site.

Manx Birdlife tweeted: ’Perhaps this became inevitable but this rather affects our plans for opening over the next 18 months.

’An early indication of detailed arrangements - anticipated lorry movements, types of refuse - would be helpful.’

The government wants to create a fully engineered new site for construction waste at Turkeyland in Malew although it hasn’t yet put in a planning application.

But Mr Baker told MHKs that there was no suitable alternative on-island facility, which was both affordable and compliant, with all the relevant approvals and licences.

’The department has therefore determined that, in the light of this information, there will be a requirement to seek approval to extend the operating life of Wright’s Pit North as an interim measure,’ he said.

Only days before, the Minister was asked in Tynwald whether Wright’s Pit North was due to close as planned on December 31, having already been granted a 12 month extension in 2019.

He replied that his department was waiting for a decision on an interim replacement for the tip, following a ’quick quote’.

But in the Keys, he said the quick quote responses revealed it would cost £936,000 to use an interim facility which could not be justified.

The DoI would ensure ’all necessary approvals are in place’ to allow operations to continue at Wright’s Pit North, he said.

He insisted the DoI was committed to opening a strategic waste facility elsewhere in the island within 18 months, at which point Wright’s Pit North would be closed and the land restored.