Peel Town Commissioners stands by claim that no vote took place over beach stage 

Further to the Board of Peel Town Commissioners’ (PTC) statement issued on Monday 23 March 2026 PTC-media-statement-23.03.26-approved.docx, and following a number of subsequently published comments including those of the Hon. Tim Crookhall MHK (Glenfaba and Peel / Minister for the Department of Infrastructure (“DOI”)), and Emma Draper (Local Democracy Reporter for Manx Radio), the Board’s position (by majority) remains that, whilst the Board provided an indication of preliminary support  for the concept of a temporary summer events stage on Peel beach as part of and subject to a wider Event Strategy, the Board did not formally vote on a firm proposal to have a temporary events stage on Peel beach this summer and to commit £10,000.00 of public funds to this, and, as such, no decision was taken and no resolution recorded in this regard Peel Town Commissioners February 2026 Resolutions – Peel Town Commissioners.

The Event Strategy referred to in the preceding paragraph is a document that was requested by the Board from the Events and Commercial Innovation Lead Member Committee (Mrs. Baptist and Mr. Hardingham) (the “Lead Member Committee”). The Lead Member Committee was required in the Event Strategy to set out their objectives in terms of a program of costed events for Peel in 2026/27, that aligns with delivery of the Strategic Aim to “Develop an Event Strategy by 1 April 2026 focusing on local visitors and community events. Reducing the existing focus on tourist events”. That document would, once formally approved, then stand as the reasoned basis for the distribution of the Board’s overall 2026/27 budget of £60,000.00 (excluding staff time) that has been allocated to events.

Without the Event Strategy, which was not available at the February Meeting (it was subsequently made available to the Board electronically on 18 March 2026 Skm_c250i_026031814140), the Board was in no position to formally decide Mrs. Baptist’s ad hoc request for £10,000.00 of public monies to fund a summer events stage on Peel beach, the details and costings for which were unknown to the Board.     

The requirements for bringing business to the Board for the purposes of resolutions and the recording of the decisions that the Board takes at these meetings in its minutes, along with the means by which the accuracy of the minutes may be checked by the Members, are prescribed by statute, Standing Orders and best practice guidance published by the DOI.

Mrs. Baptist’s request for £10,000.00 funding for a temporary summer events stage on Peel beach, was not raised by her / the Lead Member Committee as a Motion prior to the General Meeting of the Board on 19 February 2026 and it was not a public agenda item Skm_c250i_026021315010. Instead, Mrs. Baptist raised it without notice, immediately after agenda item 7: “Lead Member Committee Request for Playground Funding”, which item, although correctly notified as a Motion by the Lead Member Committee to the Board in advance of the February Meeting, was not progressed for reasons recorded in the February Minutes Skm_c250i_026031615162.

The £10,000.00 funding request for an events stage was not made in accordance with PTC’s Standing Orders STANDING-ORDERS-Peel-Town-Commissioners-April-2022.pdf (Standing Orders are intended to promote democracy and transparency in PTC’s operations by providing a structured framework for regulating PTC’s proceedings, decision-making processes, and governance), it was objected to, and therefore, in accordance with Standing Orders 5 and 8, it could not form the basis of a vote and a formal decision at the February Meeting and was effectively stood over to the Board’s March Meeting for consideration in the context of the wider Event Strategy March 2026 Board Resolutions – Peel Town Commissioners.

Had the Board at its General Meeting on 19 February 2026 formally resolved to have a temporary events stage on Peel beach this summer and to commit £10,000.00 of public funds to this, the approved February Minutes would (in accordance with the Standing Orders and as with the resolutions that the Board did pass at its General Meeting on 19 February 2026) have reflected this, with details included of the proposer, seconder and whether the resolution was passed unanimously, and, if not, with additional details of both the voting split and those who voted against the proposal.

The Chair and the Town Clerk explained the above position to Mrs. Baptist at the 19 March 2026 Meeting, which was not disclosed by Mrs. Baptist in her social media announcement.

As Ms. Draper confirms in her published comments, minutes that are taken at the Board’s general meetings are circulated to the Members in advance of their next meeting, at which the first order of business is for the relevant minutes to be approved by the Board as a correct record of the preceding meeting.

In accordance with PTC’s procedures, the minutes from its General Meeting on 19 February 2026 were electronically circulated in draft to all Members on Friday 13 March 2026, in advance of the Board’s General Meeting on Thursday 19 March 2026, with all Members given opportunity and encouraged to raise any issues that they had with the accuracy of the draft before the March meeting. At the start of the March meeting, the draft minutes from its General Meeting on 19 February 2026 were unanimously approved by the 6 Members present including Mrs. Baptist (Present: Mr. Harmer, Mr. Crompton, Mr. Cubbon-Wood, Miss Lambert, Mrs. Moughtin, and Mrs. Baptist / Apologies: Mr. Hardingham (although not present at the March meeting, Mr. Hardingham was provided with a draft for his input in advance of the March meeting, to which he raised no objections / concerns)).

At section 10 of the DOIs Local Government Handbook (for Members and Officers of Local Authority) (06/06/2024), the Key Principles and Legislation relevant to the taking of minutes are set out as follows:

“Minutes of meetings are a record of what was done, not what was said and accordingly they should be confined to the decisions taken, and the reason for the decision, and any supporting information but should not be a verbatim record of how the decision was arrived at. The minute should contain sufficient information so that at a later stage the content and decision arising from the minute is clear … every care should be taken to ensure that decisions are accurately recorded in the minutes. Minutes should be produced in the style of the Authority with a clear heading containing the time, date and venue of the meeting. It is good practice to set out the time the meeting starts and finishes. Each minute should contain headings indicating what it is about and a narrative summarizing the discussion that took place and the decision taken. For some items (perhaps commenting on planning applications) a narrative may not be required or necessary …”.  

The approved and published February Minutes are consistent with the above requirements.

To keep the DOI appraised of the situation, a copy of the Board’s initial statement was provided to the DOI (Local Government Unit) on Monday 23 March 2026, and a copy of this release will also be provided. Notwithstanding the media comments made by the DOI Minister on Wednesday 25 March, PTC has received no communication from the DOI to date.