A crowd gathered on Peel promenade on Sunday to demonstrate against marine pollution.

The protest was organised by the proprietors of a local cafe, Roots by the Sea, which launched an online petition that has attracted more than 1,900 signatures.

They’re calling for an end to the dumping of raw sewage into Peel bay, stating: ’At Roots, we have had hundreds of different faces joining us for a dip and a social afterwards.

’Unfortunately, because of government’s lack of transparency, recklessness and accountability, we have now made it our intention to inform our community of exactly what is going on.

responsibility

’We accept responsibility for improving our single use plastic operations and we’re now calling on the Isle of Man Government to take responsibility for the marine pollution they are causing in Peel bay.’

Manx Utilities spent hundreds of thousands of pounds on a scheme to build a sewerage works on the site of Glenfaba House.

The plan was withdrawn last year after an independent planning inspector recommended refusal. A regional works for Laxey has also been rejected by planners.

Manx Utilities has gone back to the drawing board on both schemes, amid calls for Peel and Laxey to be connected to the central treatment works in Santon.

House of Keys candidate for Glenfaba and Peel Trevor Cowin said he had been raising the issue of pollution in Peel bay since 2013, adding: ’The weekly dumping of the equivalent of five tons of raw sewage sludge, billions of E.coli and vast quantities of highly toxic man-made chemicals from the Raggatt tip, is not only unhealthy for users of Peel beach and bay, it’s unhealthy for Peel generally, unhealthy for the government and embarrassing for the island.’

In 1992, Tynwald approved a ’master plan’ called IRIS (integration and recycling of the island’s sewage). The aim was to stop the discharge of raw sewage into the sea, transfer waste to a centralised treatment plant and decommission what was described at the time as a ’proliferation of small sewage treatment works’.

Over the following years, Douglas, Onchan, Castletown, Port Erin, Port St Mary and Derbyhaven were connected to the central facility at Meary Veg in Santon. But in 2009 Tynwald voted to adopt regional sewage treatment works for the north and west.

This decision was made for financial reasons and was said, at that time, to represent a saving of about £25m in capital costs, as well as reduced operational costs. Manx Utilities’ costings in 2018 showed that regional sewage treatment works in Peel, St John’s and the central valley would save nearly £7m over 25 years.

Today, raw sewage continues to be released into the sea through outfall pipes in Peel and Laxey.

The candidates in Glenfaba and Peel are: Geoffrey Boot, Trevor Cowin, Tim Crookall, Leo Cussons, Ray Harmer, Mikey Lee and Kate Lord-Brennan.