In his first major outing since being ousted from government, Chris Thomas found that he and the Chief Minister have a different recollection of events that led to his sacking.

In this week’s Keys sitting, Mr Thomas asked Howard Quayle what views were sought and received from those directly involved in respect of considering planning appeals by written representation rather than by public hearing.

The issue of planning inquiries and Mr Thomas voting against the CoMin position on proposals to use the Emergency Powers Act to alter how they are carried out, led to his sacking by Mr Quayle last month.

In a failed bid by the Council of Ministers, Minister of Environment, Food and Agriculture Geoffrey Boot asked Tynwald to support measures that would have seen planning appeals and inquiries carried out by written statement, rather than the face to face sittings that currently occur.

Mr Quayle said that the attempt was made after representations from DEFA and views were sought from ’some appellants’ and the Cabinet Office.

He said: ’Mixed views were expressed by appellants, some of whom were prepared to await the border reopening to allow subsequent hearings, though of course when they were asked in mid-April, there was no firm indication as to how long the borders could be expected to remain closed.

’A virtual meeting took place on April 27 between the three officer teams and views in respect of the options were discussed and the proposed solution was identified, mindful that the borders could be closed for a considerable period and that we needed to introduce a resolute and timely solution.’

memory

However, this differed from the memory of Mr Thomas who said the response to the team in Cabinet Office was that ’nearly all of those involved declined when approached with an offer of a planning appeal made by written representation’.

He added: ’My understanding is that very few, if any, actually wanted to go down the process that was decided by officers and confirmed by Council of Ministers.’

Mr Quayle said it was an ’area I don’t deal in’ and that he has to trust the information provided to him by officers but that the proposal would’ve helped clear the backlog of appeals, which includes two sewage treatment sites proposed by Manx Utilities.

He also noted that most appeals in the UK are carried out by written submissions and that after taking legal advice, the government proposed it to Tynwald.

Following a question from Kate Costain (Lib Vannin, Douglas South), Mr Quayle confirmed that as a result of the decision taken by Tynwald, planning appeals are currently unable to progress but that officers from DEFA are working to find a solution.