The question of whether to abolish Ramsey’s two electoral wards in favour of one has been deferred until after the boundary extension application has been through the various stages of government.

The matter was initially raised towards the end of last year by Rob Cowell, who proposed that a scheme be prepared and submitted to the Department of Infrastructure to reduce the number of wards to a single ward with 12 elected members, which is the same number of members as at present.

At their first meeting of the year, the commissioners considered a report prepared by town clerk, Tim Cowin, setting out the pros and cons of amalgamating the two wards.

After some debate, the board approved Lamara Craine’s proposal that the matter be delayed until after the boundary extension scheme has been settled, which is likely to be towards the end of 2022.

Currently, six commissioners are elected in the north and six from the south.

In the local authority elections in the summer, not enough candidates came forward to fill the seats in the north ward.

There remained three vacancies, so a by-election was held later.