As the public inquiry into the area plan for the east got under way this week, there was already talk of a court battle.

The inquiry, chaired by Michael Hurley, opened on Tuesday in the Villa Marina and is scheduled to run for two weeks at a variety of locations in Douglas.

It will determine in principle what land can be built on in the most populous part of the island.

Towards the south, the area includes the whole of the parish of Santon. It reaches the northern border of Lonan near Ballaragh and goes westward as far as Crosby. Before the start of the eastern inquiry, Mr Hurley asked Attorney General John Quinn to advise on the requirement for ’general conformity’ between the area plan and the Isle of Man Strategic Plan (2016).

Mr Quinn said in his advice that the interpretation of ’general conformity’, ’is broad and permits flexibility’.

He added: ’Such flexibility could justifiably include the inspector recommending a decrease (even a significant one) in the housing allocation where there is cogent and reliable evidence accepted by him in the area plan process as reasoned justification for the departure.’

However, before the round table meeting which was scheduled to discuss population figures, the inquiry spent almost an hour exploring the possible interpretation of the AG’s advice.

One man queried whether Mr Hurley’s recommendations could be rejected by the Cabinet Office on grounds of not conforming with the Strategic Plan despite the AG’s advice.

And Gary Manley, representing residents seeking to protect the island’s countryside, questioned other areas of the Strategic Plan with which a large increase in the number of houses may not conform.

Mr Manley asked how the government would conform to the Strategic Plan after promising to protect the environment and the island’s designation as a Unesco biosphere and having declared a climate emergency.

However, a representative from one company, Baccarat Ltd, said that the Strategic Plan had ’already struck a balance’ and that Mr Hurley should stick to the plan for 2,400 houses in the east.

Those and other questions led to Mr Hurley saying that the requirement of general conformity ’could always be challenged in the courts’.

A representative of the Cabinet Office agreed that any decision or recommendation made for the area plan could be challenged in the courts, even after a vote by Tynwald members.

Chairman of Braddan Commissioners Andrew Jessopp suggested that the Cabinet Office itself should go to court and seek further advice.

Later, David Green, representing Hartford Homes and Eden Park Developments said it was the ’right way forward’ to stick to the Strategic Plan and suggested that the companies would also be seeking legal advice on deviating from it.

Mr Green said the plan was a ’policy objective’ and a ’positive decision’ that had been made by the Cabinet Office.

Mr Hurley’s request made reference to the requirement for the island to build 5,100 homes between 2011 and 2026 - with 2,400 of them to be in the east of the island.

That figure was derived from a population projection based on the 2011 census, which assumed there would be a net migration of 500 people per year to the island throughout the 15-year span of the Strategic Plan.

The 2016 census - which showed a decrease in the overall population - and evidence since has shown this was not the case.

Mr Hurley asked: ’If the area plan for the east were to make provision for substantially fewer than the 2,400 additional dwellings specified in housing policy 3 of the Strategic Plan, could it be held to be out of general conformity with the Strategic Plan?’

In his advice, the Attorney General said that the ’interpretation, application and ultimate determination’ of the question of general conformity, in his opinion, ’lies with the decision maker’, namely Mr Hurley in the first instance and then with the Cabinet Office.

â?¢An area plan for the south was approved by Tynwald in February 2013 covering Rushen, Arbory, Malew, Port St Mary, Port Erin and Castletown.

The government recently called for sites in the north and west of the island for another Strategic Plan.

It includes all of the parishes of Patrick (as far south as Dalby), German, Michael, Ballaugh, Andreas, Jurby, Bride and Maughold plus Ramsey and Peel.

Once the call for sites is completed, there will later be a public consultation on a draft plan and another separate inquiry.