Government must follow its own rules 

Tynwald Commissioner for Administration finds failings within DoI

Tynwald has been told that government must 'follow its own rules' after an Ombudsman report exposed serious failures in the way flood defence works were carried out on the river at Laxey.

Moving a debate on the report, at the last sitting of the current administration, Onchan MHK Julie Edge said a structure built beside Victoria Terrace was nominally about flood protection but, in reality, raised bigger questions about governance.

A local resident noticed a substantial patio being built 'within millimetres' of their boundary in a designated high‑risk watercourse and asked what planning permission had been granted for it. 

The answer, Tynwald Commissioner for Administration Paul Beckett found, was that there wasn’t any as the work was done by the Department of Infrastructure with no planning permission and without any written financial authorisation.

That's despite the variation being valued at between £30,000–£40,000.

Ms Edge said Mr Beckett had uncovered there was no paper trail and 'nobody signed anything', describing it as 'an absolute failure of financial governance' that appeared to ignore recommendations made after the 2019 independent flood review, which had called for independent, written consents applying equally to government.

Infrastructure Minister Tim Crookall apologised to the affected homeowners and promised a full 'clarity statement' before pre‑election purdah, while former minister Michelle Haywood urged that none of the residents should be left out of pocket.

Ms Edge warned the case may be symptomatic of wider weaknesses in how capital projects are run across government and said she is considering referring the matter to Tynwald’s Public Accounts Committee.

During his investigation, Mr Beckett found the department had not attempted to contact the complainant to try to find solution and was ‘at best discourteous', he also found the department had given misleading advice, breached financial regulations and internal emails showed staff felt unsupported. 

A subsequent planning application was rejected with a way forward still to be found.

You can find Mr Beckett's full report HERE.