Villagers have sought reassurances over a proposed housing scheme on the Underway at Port St Mary.

A public meeting was held on Saturday at Port St Mary town hall to discuss concerns over the stability of a bank.

Haven Homes has planning consent to build two, five bedroom houses on the Underway. They back onto a very steep bank below the village’s main road.

The public meeting was called by the newly-formed Bay View Action Group which is concerned that the development could destabilise the steep bank.

Excavation of the bank with a digger is causing alarm as the area suffered a landslip in the 1990s and - slightly further along at Happy Valley - in 2010 leading to road closure, house evacuation and major disruption.

Haven Homes said it was disappointed it was not invited to the meeting.

It said it had appointed highly qualified consultants to come up with the most appropriate engineering solution for any bank retention that may be required.

At the public meeting, the Bay View Action Group explored the possibility of raising the £20,000 it estimates would be needed to take legal action through crowd funding.

But residents agreed there should be urgent discussion between interested parties before any legal action is pursued.

The meeting was called by resident Alec Merchant.

He stressed the issue had ’nothing to do’ with Haven Homes, which had bought the site ’in good faith’.

His concern is about planning permission being granted in the first place, to the original applicant Len Chatel.

Permission for the plan was conditional on parking bays being created on the foreshore.

It is the ownership of this land that would be contested in any legal challenge.

Members of the public at the meeting raised various issues including the stability of the bank.

One said that this was ’not just a community issue, it’s a national issue’. ’Government should question this,’ they said.

One resident said funds should go on the advice of a relevant consultant, not lawyers, because ’that is going to take too long’.

Mr Merchant subsequently briefed constituency MHK Juan Watterson. A meeting of Haven Homes, relevant government departments and some residents will take place shortly.

In an open letter Haven Homes’ managing director Dave Lewis wrote he was ’very disappointed’ the group had not sought clarification on their concerns or invited them to the meeting.

Qualified

Landslips have occurred close by in the past because of ’poorly executed building operations’, he said.

’We are professional in our approach and take engineering installations very seriously,’ he said.

Mr Lewis said they had appointed ’highly qualified consultants from the UK who specialise in engineering geology, geotechnical engineering and environmental services’.

’Detailed bore testing and ground profiling work’ had been carried out in September to ’confirm the most appropriate engineering solution for any bank retention that may be required’.

The company communicates with all relevant government departments and the commissioners, he said.

The validity of land ownership cannot be questioned and planning approval is in place, Mr Lewis said.

Legal action would ’create unnecessary legal defence costs’ for the public, he added.