Garff Commissioners hopes it will now be able to take over responsibility for maintaining the public rights of way in the sheading from the government.

The local authority invited Infrastructure Minister Ray Harmer MHK and department officers to its meeting in November to discuss the issue but did not get the go- ahead.

The Department of Infrastructure has said that budget cutbacks are to blame for the footpaths not being maintained as well as might be expected.

Economic Development Minister Laurence Skelly MHK said that the further devolution of responsibility for footpath maintenance was ’worthy of consideration’ after Isle of Man Newspapers raised the issue.

Garff Commissioners chairman Nigel Dobson said: ’I am surprised to read that the DoI are in this position.

’We made it clear to them that if they allocated the budget set aside for public rights of way in Garff, even if this wasn’t sufficient to do the job properly, we would consider funding any shortfall.

’We felt that maintaining the footpaths to ensure that they were passable was not only good value, but good for the local economy as well.’

He added: ’I was even more surprised to read that Minister Skelly suggested that perhaps this is something local authorities could consider taking responsibility for - that is exactly what we asked to do and the offer was refused.’

Mr Dobson said they had approached the DoI following complaints from constituents about overgrown footpaths.

The sheading of Garff includes Maughold, Laxey and Lonan.

â?¢ What do you think about the condition of the island’s footpaths? Are there any that have stopped you in your tracks? Email us at [email protected]