Ramsey Commissioners have rejected suggestions their plan to expand the town boundary is to increase its income.

Discussions will now take place with local authorities in Garff and Lezayre, which would be set to lose land if the draft proposals were approved.

The chairman of Ramsey Commissioners, Andy Cowie, says there is no more room left for developments in the town.

He has denied claims it’s a move to generate more money from ratepayers.

’It’s not a question of rates,’ he said.

’The criteria for the boundary extension is more based on community and the situation within the town itself and the fact that we’ve used up all our development land.

’A lot of the development land round Poyll Dooey is in a flood-risk area and that’s preventing any development on it. ’

As the Courier reported last week, Ramsey Commissioners are applying to the government to take over a large area around the town. The areas are currently in the parishes of Maughold and Lezayre.

This week’s Examiner reported Lezayre’s reaction. Its chairman even suggested that Lezayre could take over Ramsey.

Rates in Ramsey are much higher than in the surrounding parishes.

The has been a move towards larger local authorities in recent years. In the south of the island, Rushen and Arbory merged last year, with different rates continuing in each parish.

It’s the same situation in Garff, which was formed when Laxey, Lonan and Maughold merged.

Meanwhile, a request from Port Erin Commissioners to take over part of the Rushen parish is not yet resolved.