A proposal to build on land in Castletown was initially refused by the planning committee.

But the planning commitee has yet to make public the reasons for its decision - and the application is still listed as 'pending' on its website.

The item is listed for any other business in the agenda for today's planning committee (Monday).

It notes: 'The members previously refused 18/00987/B. Two parties who submitted views whose comments were referred to in the officer’s report, were missed from the Interested Person Status assessment later in the report.

'The Committee has therefore not determined this aspect of the application.'

The plan (18/00987/B) by Hartford Homes for 48 houses adds to the 45 properties already built by the developer at Scarlett Point, Knock Rushen.

It follows a call by the government for sites suitable for housing development in the town.

Knock Rushen was identified as such.

Attempts to build in the area in the past have been controversial.

Campaigners fought - under the group Save Our Scarlett - development at Scarlett Point for 13 years but were defeated when Hartford first got permission to build at Knock Rushen in 2006.

Campaign chairman John Cringle, who lives on Queen Street, an access road for the site, described the latest bid as ’an unwarranted intrusion into an area of high scenic significance’.

He said the loss of agricultural land ’is unacceptable in the current climate’, it is ’on the wrong side’ of town and would funnel traffic through the town centre and its narrow streets.

Another resident, Roger Rawcliffe, said the edge of the previous development provides a ’distinct and reasonably satisfactory boundary to the town’ and altering this would be detrimental.

He said the proposal was ’of a mean suburban nature not worthy of their iconic position’.

Castletown Commissioners had no objection to the application, a stance resident Richard Bedford said was a ’serious dereliction of their duty’.

He asked commissioners to reconsider their position about the roads accessing the proposed development.

He said: ’By side-stepping the problem of the access roads to the proposed development, I believe the commissioners have disgracefully avoided their responsibility to their ratepayers and that by doing so they have damaged their standing and respect.’