A Laxey resident whose home was wrecked by the October flood has criticised the decision to place a flood gate outside his front door.

Giles Ackerley’s family home, Ballacowin Cottage, Glen Road, was one of the worst affected houses when heavy rain coupled with debris and a hole in the wall led to the Laxey River flooding homes in the lower part of the village on October 1, 2019.

The Department of Infrastructure is currently building a higher wall on the river bank while Manx Utilities has spent a lot of time and money to clear the river of debris.

Part of the new wall includes a flood gate which the DoI said it expects to be delivered ’in around 10 weeks’.

In the meantime sand bags and flood barriers will remain in place to protect Glen Road if the river level rises.

Mr Ackerley told the Examiner that he and other residents do not want the flood gate, particularly not so close to the houses which were the worst affected as they fear it could provide a weakness in the structure, placing them at future risk.

He said: ’We don’t want any sort of gate, we want a solid wall. It serves no purpose and there was no communication until the press release was put out saying it was coming. We’ve certainly not been consulted on the gate.’

The DoI says the gate is designed to allow access to the river and so a hole doesn’t have to be knocked through in future, as happened in October.

Mr Ackerley said he wants the wall to ensure he and his family feel safe and he ’won’t stop protesting against the gate’ even if he has to do it alone.

But he said he hopes that members of the Flood Action Group, formed by resident Andrew Smith after the flood, will support him.

He added: ’In the first few days [after the flood] there was a lot of communication from the DoI but now that’s all died down and that’s what makes me angry, the lack of communication. I just want myself and my family and neighbours to feel safe and with this gate, we don’t.’

Mr Ackerley, who along with his family was stranded upstairs in his house on the day of the flood while fire crews battled to pump out the water from their garden and home, said the damage to his home had been ’heart breaking’.

He said: ’You do try to stay strong about it all but there have been a few days where I’ve had to step back. It just annoys me that this could’ve been avoided.’