New Department of Enterprise Minister Lawrie Hooper says we shouldn’t have too long to wait to discover the confirmed schedule for next year’s TT.

Chief Minister Alf Cannan ordered a second consultation into the controversial new schedule for the TT, which includes moving the Senior to a Saturday, after a poor response to the first one in 2021.

Due to get underway on Monday May 29, TT 2023 could potentially see racing held on Mad Sunday, with a reformed race week potentially starting on Saturday, June 3.

Mr Hooper said his understanding is that the results of that consultation will be released ‘soon’.

He said: ‘We’ve seen the results in the department already, so the next step is to get them published.

‘I’ve actually been emailing the motorsport team about making sure that information gets up to CoMin and then to the public, so I expect there will be a decision announced on the results of that and what that means for the future of the TT hopefully relatively soon.’

While the response to the first consultation was pretty poor, the Minister said this time around the engagement has been ‘relatively good’ with a range of views from the public, businesses and others involved in the TT.

Asked how people can be sure that the public will be listened to, Mr Hooper said: ‘It’s one of those tricky things because the department engaged quite a lot with all the stakeholders, so the marshals, the teams, the racers, people who are involved in delivering the event, local businesses, as well as off-island fans, the medics, the support staff, everyone who is involved and we also engaged with the public.

‘I was expecting to see a difference of opinion there because I think there is an expectation that you have the TT and it’s run the way it’s been run for such a long time, so there is some of that embedded “well why would you make any changes?”

‘I think it is harder to sell it to us locals than it is to explain to those changes to get the people involved on board, because the experience is different, the expectation is different, so I’m expecting to see a mixed response from the consultation if I’m honest.’

No matter what the result of the consultation, one unexpected change that may be enforced on the TT is that June 3 is currently being widely tipped as the day of King Charles III’s coronation. Mr Hooper admitted that while the idea for royal races could be entertaining, there may have to be some changes to the schedule if this date is confirmed.