Documents that make up the area plan for the east, which will be subject to a public inquiry, have been released.

The Cabinet Office has published additional information and evidence ahead of the pre-inquiry meeting later this month. It is still not been revealed who is chairing the inquiry.

Consultation on the area plan exposed opposition from residents across the east of the island, notably at Camlork, near Union Mills, which is zoned for the building of 140 homes. Residents say green belt land will be destroyed.

But the biggest proposed housing site in the draft plan is for 30 hectares of grazing land off Braddan Road to the north east of the Jubilee Oak junction.

Between 200 and 300 homes could be built in the area under plans drawn up by Hartford Homes.

The Cabinet Office response documents, which have been published in the last week, show that as well as residents, Braddan Commissioners, property developers Dandara Group Holdings and Ellis Brown Architects have voiced objections to the plans.

Braddan Commissioners have objected to homes being built off Braddan Road and further land off Ballafletcher Road (earmarked for 40 homes), saying it ’would cause coalescence of Douglas and Union Mills’.

And they argued that ’sufficient housing can be accommodated on the edges of Douglas and Onchan without using these greenfield sites’.

However, the Cabinet Office rejected these claims, saying it ’does not agree that the latter two mentioned sites would result in the coalescence of Douglas and Union Mills’ and said the commissioners hadn’t said where around Douglas and Onchan would make for better locations.

Dandara’s opposition, it said, came from the lack of transportation links into and out of the sites and how the estates would affect traffic congestion.

The company’s submission said: ’A Bryan G Hall Consulting Civil and Transportation planning engineers’ report considered that satisfactory access to the site is unlikely to be achievable without resulting in significant environmental impact (particularly in respect of the registered trees). The development of the site would not fit the scale, landform and pattern of the landscape, resulting in the partial loss of one or more key features.’

In its response, the Cabinet Office said it ’notes the reports submitted on these two sites’.

It added: ’In terms of active travel there is a key link between Camlork and these sites in improving the public transport route into Douglas but it is accepted that it is important to get it any release done properly by looking at all the possible options which may not be immediately obvious.’

Ellis Brown Architects said in its submission: ’The green gap should be maintained and the entire sites of BH030 [Ballafeltcher] and DBH002 [Braddan Road] should not be included in the final plan.’

The companies, commissioners and residents will get the chance to air their opposition during the public inquiry, due to begin on September 9.

The pre-inquiry meeting is on July 18 at 9.30am in the iMuseum at the Manx Museum.