Patrick Commissioners is currently unable to sit after three members quit, including the now ex-chairman.

What started as a row over damage to property has resulted in a local authority in chaos.

The resignations of Geoffrey Gelling, Dr John Snelling and Richard Jones come after a Tynwald report that began as a dispute over damage to land in Patrick spilled over with one commissioner accused of using public funds to benefit himself and the authority being labelled as mismanaged.

Now former Tynwald Commissioner for Administration Angela Main Thompson’s found maladministration at the local authority after the way it dealt with a complaint over damage to the land on Glen Rushen Road.

She also found that one board member, who is not one of the three who has resigned, had acted to benefit himself and two other land owners with better access to their lands.

Isle of Man Today spoke to the unnamed commissioner, labelled Commissioner X in her report, who denied the allegation and said they were frustrated that they were unable to speak to Ms Main Thompson during her investigation.

They said: ‘I will not resign as I do not believe I have done anything wrong. I do not now, nor have I ever owned, land on Glen Rushen.’

Dr Snelling, Mr Gelling and Mr Jones, who was only elected in June this year, have now all resigned from the board citing Commissioner X’s refusal to resign.

They said that Ms Main Thompson’s report ‘contained many inaccuracies and inappropriate remarks to which the Commissioners were not permitted to respond’.

However, despite citing inaccuracies, they agreed that Commissioner X had ‘acted ultra vires’ and asked him to resign several times at their meeting earlier this week.

With him refusing to do so, they instead chose to quit.

In a joint statement, they said: ‘In the absence of any other legitimate process for responding to, or fairly investigating the allegations in the Tynwald report, we are unwilling to continue as members of the board whilst Commissioner X remains a member, and whilst there remains the possibility of that member continuing to act in such a manner as to undermine the democratic and representative nature of the board.

‘It is with great regret that we take this action, having stated that, under different circumstances – and particularly if there were a legitimate process in place for investigating the actions or behaviour of elected members – that we would wish to continue to serve.’

We have asked the DoI, which is responsible for local authorities, for an update on the events at Patrick Commissioners and what will happen with the board not able to be quorate, but have not yet received a response.