An MHK is questioning the amount of public money which has been set aside for designing a new perimeter fence at Isle of Man Airport. Malew and Santon member Graham Cregeen says just under £160,000 is "an incredible amount" for such a scheme.

Transport Minister David Anderson told the House of Keys the figure was a percentage of the overall project cost and he believed it would end up costing a lot less than the specified sum.

'I wonder what the fence would have cost if I hadn't brought the matter to the DoT's attention.'

Mr Cregeen isn't so sure, and told Manx Radio:

"I just wonder what the cost would have been if I hadn't brought it to their attention, because surely during the budgetary rounds they should have identified that £159,000 was excessive."

Mr Cregeen is also keen to ensure local contractors are involved in the project as much as possible, and was asked if he was satisfied with the answer to that part of his question. He said:

"I'm not really, because it was mentioned that 'suitable qualified contractors' (would be engaged).

"All they have to do is specify a certain standard and say 'nobody on the Isle of Man is suitably qualified'.

"At the end of the day, it's a fence."