A local MHK has launched a scathing attack on the Isle of Man Government, accusing it of prioritising ‘vanity projects’ over the everyday needs of island residents.

Tim Glover, who represents Arbory, Castletown and Malew, made the comments in a strongly worded social media post after visiting Ballacriy Park in Colby, where recent roadworks have drawn criticism from residents.

Sharing photos of the partially reinstated road surfaces, Mr Glover described the repairs as ‘half-baked efforts’ and laid blame at the feet of Manx Utilities, the Department of Infrastructure (DoI), and fellow politicians.

He wrote: ‘This is simply not good enough at Ballacriy Park in Colby, Manx Utilities, Isle of Man Department of Infrastructure, John Wannenburgh MHK, Michelle Haywood MHK!

‘In fact, it is an embarrassing reflection on this current lame administration not looking after island residents already here in favour of trying to attract people here or [focusing on] vanity projects.

‘Why would you want to move here when you see this sort of thing’

‘Doing things properly and in a joined-up way is the way to attract people to our lovely island rather than half-baked efforts like this!’

Mr Glover, who previously served as a political member of the DoI from 2021 to 2023, said his frustrations stemmed from a perceived lack of coordination across departments and a broader failure to get the basics right when it comes to infrastructure and maintenance.

His post has received support from members of the public, with several commenters sharing similar concerns about the state of roads, pavements and services in their own neighbourhoods.

In response to the criticism, a spokesperson for Manx Utilities defended the works carried out at Ballacriy Park, stating that significant infrastructure improvements had taken place behind the scenes.

They said: ‘The driver for this scheme was the replacement of the existing water mains and connections.

‘Recognising that the works would be disruptive, it was determined within Manx Utilities that all our services would be upgraded at the same time, with electric and street lighting supplies being extensively replaced as part of the scheme.

‘To continue the collaborative approach, as the estate also contains telecoms, an agreement was reached with Manx Telecom to upgrade their network as part of the works. From a services perspective, we have future-proofed the estate as far as reasonably practicable.’

The spokesperson explained that efforts were made to liaise with the DoI during the design phase to explore opportunities for additional resurfacing work.

However, they noted that budget constraints meant further road reinstatement could not be jointly funded.

‘We did however ensure that the extent of reinstatement necessary for the installation of services met the requirements of the DoI’s highway standards,” they added. “For most of the estate we are reinstating half-road width where our services are contained within a narrow trench.’

Further remedial works are scheduled, including micro asphalt dressing of Close 7 by the DoI in July, and the full relaying of road surfaces in Close 2, which will be carried out by the contractor and funded by the department.

Minor surface defects elsewhere will also be repaired before final completion, and speed ramps will be permanently reinstated.