Former Local Government Minister John Rimington (pictured) has been explaining why he withdrew the Braddan plan.

At a public sitting of the Tynwald committee, investigating the role played by Braddan Commissioners and their clerk in the Braddan plan process, Mr Rimington outlined a number of reasons for his actions.

These included a perception of bias on the part of the commissioners and the clerk towards one developer.

Edward Oldham reports:

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Mr Rimington said correspondence showed the planning officer met the commissioners and often just with the clerk on numerous occasions with a fairly incessant flow of correspondence.

Of a possible 900 dwellings in the modified Braddan plan, 560 would have come under the control of Dandara Limited, putting other land owners and developers at a disadvantage.

The sale of land by the clerk to the Dandara group was also criticized by Mr Rimington.

The area only had an agricultural value but was sold at development price - a difference of about ?260,000.

He said: ‘This could only represent either altruism by Dandara or a strong expectation that the land would be zoned for development or a payment for services rendered or to be rendered or some combination of the three.’