The minister in charge of planning has admitted that his department has not been tough enough on enforcing its own rules.

Environment Minister Geoffrey Boot was put on the spot about the enforcement of planning conditions at last week’s House of Key sitting.

Lawrie Hooper (LibVannin, Ramsey) said: ’There is a perception out there that there is a significant lack of planning enforcement on the Isle of Man.’

Mr Boot admitted: ’I think it is fair to say that, in the past, enforcement has not been a priority within my department and has been woefully under-resourced.

’We are attempting to address that issue and take enforcement very seriously now.’

The matter was raised initially by Rob Callister (Onchan), who wanted to know what sanctions the Department of Environment, Food and Agriculture had if a condition of planning approval was not met by a developer or property owner.

Mr Boot said it depended on the circumstances of each case.

’The options open to the department are to remind the owner, operator of the land of his/her responsibilities and seek compliance through negotiation, to prosecute, to serve an enforcement notice, to seek regularisation of the submission of an application or seek a certificate of lawfulness if the breach has been ongoing beyond 10 years.’

Other options included doing nothing, ’which is appropriate in some cases’, or enter into legal agreements to ’minimise or mitigate the impact of breaches of conditions’.

Mr Boot admitted there was no set routine for ensuring planning conditions were being met.