A public meeting discussing a new development on Westmoreland Road saw the majority of attendees voteT against the plans.

The proposals, put forward by the Manx Development Corporation, propose 133 homes, 20 thousand square feet of office space and four retail units.

In the meeting, which was held in Douglas, one attendee said: ‘We have got 6,000 vacant properties on this island that could solve the housing problem at a stroke.’

Ahead of the meeting, Councillor Stephen Pitts who chaired the meeting, voiced his concerns about the lack of parking.

He said: ‘I’m for new development but not on the scale that is happening there and with the amount of car parking space that’s going to be provided, that’s one of my main concerns.

‘With limited parking on the actual site, if the residents do have cars, which I’m sure many of them will, where are they going to park their vehicles?’