A public meeting on a new development in Westmoreland Road saw the majority of the people attending voting against the move.

Plans for the Westmoreland Village, Douglas, proposed by the Manx Development Corporation, would see 133 new homes, 20 thousand square feet of office space and four retail units.

Whilst a large majority of attendees at the meeting on Monday were against the proposal, six were in favour of the plans if amendments were made.

Douglas councillor Stephen Pitts, who chaired the meeting, said: ‘The main concerns were the over development of the site and the already lack of parking for people attending the doctors, dentist and school and other businesses in that area.’

Cllr Pitts also said: ‘The demolition of existing houses to be replaced with other houses.’

One of the attendees added: ‘We have got 6,000 vacant properties in this island that could solve the housing problem at a stroke.’

Another attendee said: ‘We have all these empty properties, where we could be refurbishing them, giving them better potential.

‘Instead, we are pulling down perfectly fine buildings to put a whole load of other buildings up. How does that help with our carbon footprint?’

The meeting was organised by Stephen Moore and chaired by Cllr Stephen Pitts and Douglas Central MHKs Chris Thomas and Ann Corlett.

Also attending the meeting was Devon Watson, chair of Douglas housing committee, and the city’s new mayor, Cllr Natalie Byron-Teare.

Following the meeting Chris Thomas told Manx Radio: ‘It was a very informed debate, and I think people should go away and make sure they submit the views that they expressed tonight in formal submissions to the planning process, because that is what this is at the moment, it is a planning application.’

Parking has been a bone of contention for the development, with a petition to save parking in the already congested area created earlier this year by Central Douglas resident, Andrea Krüger. It was sparked by the new development.

Coming out of the meeting, attendees were going to lodge objections and most signed the petition if they hadn’t already done online.

The planning application proposes 89 parking spaces across the 133 new homes, and 241 bicycle parking spaces.

An MDC spokesperson, previously told the Independent: ‘A large portion of the townhouses have dedicated off-street parking, there is basement parking below one of the main apartment blocks and street parking within the development.’

Cllr Pitts said: ‘I would say the meeting had a very good attendance of residents from the area with lots of questions asked and mostly answered.

‘There was lots of concern over if this is allowed, where will it stop with other developers not having to abide by the current eastern area plan and government guide lines on parking, play area and green space.’