A public information meeting is being held in the west room at Port St Mary town hall at 7pm tonight (Tuesday) regarding ownership of the beach below the Bayview Hotel.

A car parking area was created at the top of the beach to satisfy a condition of planning approval for two houses at the Underway. However, the authority said the developer had neither building regulations approval nor a road opening notice.

In addition, the commissioners say the beach is not owned by whoever owns the development site.

There is also an inquiry being conducted into extinguishing the public rights of way through the site, which Hartford Homes is understood to be interested in buying. The Department of Infrastructure is due to meet the authority on Friday to discuss the matter.

Having spent months investigating the issue, and failing to get planners to act, the authority appealed for crowd funding to finance legal fees of around £15,000.

Leading the investigation is commissioner Alec Merchant, who said: ’At the meeting we will offer the public all the evidence we have got.

’We do not think the people that own the site own the top of the beach. Building the car park should not have been allowed. We want enough people interested in putting money on the table.

’It’s crunch time.’