The infrastructure minister responded to a question regarding silt in Peel harbour in Tynwald on Tuesday.

Garff MHK Daphne Caine asked Tim Crookall how his department plans to dispose of the silt which has already been dredged.

Mr Crookall stated that all of the dredged material from the harbour is currently stored and is ’awaiting a permanent disposal location’.

The dredged silt has been sampled and tested and has been classified as a ’mixture of inert waste and stable, non-reactive waste’.

Due to this classification, Mr Crookall stated that it would not be suitable for disposal at Wright’s Pit North near Bride.

Options such as landfill and reprocessing are still being investigated.

Mr Crookall also revealed around 3,000 to 4,000 tonnes of material comes into the harbour a year, which is ’obviously going to cause us a huge problem’.

He said the Department of Infrastructure is currently assessing all options on how to deal with this material.