Onchan Commissioners has accused Ray Harmer of making ’disingenuous comments’ over its policy towards shared housing lists.

In the House of Keys on Tuesday, October 23, Infrastrcuture Minister Mr Harmer said he believed ’cometh the hour they will come on board’.

He added: ’I would urge Onchan not to "let down" its constituents and actually participate in the list.’

However, chairman of the local authority Martin Macfarlane yesterday released a statement in which the commissioners have asked ’What is Onchan doing wrong?’

Mr Macfarlane said that Onchan Commissioners had asked this question to successive Infrastructure Ministers, adding ’to date, no answer has been received’.

He said: ’The board continue to monitor developments and feel more clarity is required in order to make a reasonable decision as we are proud of the service we deliver to our tenants and strive to maximise the benefit of the stock in our custody.

’As an example, we recently completed a stock rotation project to ensure tenants are housed correctly to their current needs - this project has resulted in an increased occupancy level within our stock while achieving a notable reduction to our waiting lists.

’The authority has been praised in the past by persons from central government for its effective housing stock management and pro-active maintenance - we need to be careful of any change to our service.’

The statement adds that Mr Harmer ’frequently negelects to mention that Douglas is not part of the combined waiting list’ that the Department of Infrastructure continues to challenge Onchan to join.

’Likewise, comments on Onchan not being part of a combined waiting list are also disingenuous as applications for elderly persons’ accommodation have always been taken from residents anywhere on the island.’