The Road Races Bill, if passed into law, will allow for racing to take place on Sundays in certain circumstances, as well as enshrining certain powers of TT marshals in law.

Several amendments proposed by Bill Henderson MLC were accepted.

Duties of a marshal are laid out in the legislation and, according to the bill include securing the safety of competitors, officials, spectators or the public and preventing any person, animal or vehicle from obstructing or hindering the conduct of the race.

It says that in order to carry out these duties, a marshal may remove a vehicle, person or animal from the road or land, detain a person to ensure their safety or deliver them into custody. Marshals are also authorised to prevent any person doing something that compromises the safety of competitors or the public, and erect and maintain road closure barriers.

The bill has already been criticised by Methodist lay preacher Peter Murcott who expressed concern about the possible effects of Sunday racing on church services.

‘Although they say they are safeguarding Sunday worship that is nonsense because there are quite a lot of problems they could run into with this bill. And they seem to be overlooking the fact that some churches do have evening services,’ he said.

Mr Murcott said he was also concerned the bill appears to create offences of strict liability, in other words, ones where the perpetrator does not need to be proven to have acted intentionally or perhaps recklessly. Instead it is sufficient simply to establish that the act was committed.

Douglas North MHK John Houghton, who has backed the bill said: ‘In relation to places of worship, we have gone to great lengths to not allow road closures near places of worship, especially on Sunday mornings, but we would allow racing to take place in areas where there was no effect on churches, such as the Sloc.’

The House of Keys introduced a number of amendments to the original bill to try to address concerns.

Racing can be authorised on a single Sunday during the Manx Grand Prix/Classic TT and on a single Sunday during the TT races, if required because of a postponement of any race in the previous week. The authorisation would only be for racing on the whole of the TT course or the Billown course between 1.30pm and 5.30pm.

Racing on a Sunday on any occasion outside the TT or Manx Grand Prix/Classic TT may only be authorised if prior notification has been given in two newspapers in the island less than 12 months before.

John Turner