A new method of calculating domestic rates based on the area of homes, could be brought in as early as 2022.

Tynwald this week voted to approve a report on rates modernisation.

This proposes that rates are based on area and aerial photography is used to determine the external size of each property.

Policy and Reform Minister Chris Thomas said the idea was to bring ’fairness and consistency’ to the rates system.

He said £49m is collected ’inconsistently and unfairly’ from ratepayers to fund water, sewerage and local authorities.

Mr Thomas said the new system could, ’with a fair wind’, be in place in 2022 although a more likely target date would be 2023.

After this, there would be a five-year transition period.

He stressed that drones would not be used for the aerial photographs which would be taken by fixed wing aircraft on an existing contract.

Once the data is collated, modelling of the new system could begin, he said.

There will be winners and losers, Mr Thomas told Tynwald but ’nothing could be taken forward without consensus and consent’.

He said any new system would need to take into account the social impact on the older part of the community, carers and the disabled.

Mr Thomas gave his personal commitment to rates modernisation and urged members to support the outline proposal so more detailed, specific elements could be taken forward.

Lawrie Hooper (LibVan, Ramsey) tabled a series of amendments.

He said a bigger house didn’t necessarily mean more wealth and the area-based system alone doesn’t take into account ability to pay.

He suggested an element of a property’s value needed to be built in. ’If you place four identical properties in four different corners of this island, they will be worth four different amounts of money,’ he said.

Mr Hooper said rates reform was a complex issue and he had real concerns at how the consultation was run.

But he accepted the report only set out the framework for what the next steps might be. His amendments all failed to carry.