Manx Utilities says it has answered over 200 email enquiries about its controversial plans for a wind farm in the south of the island.
The preferred site at Earystane has faced significant local opposition as the government looks to install a small wind farm that could cost taxpayers up to £40m.
Responding to a question from Jason Moorhouse (Arbory, Castletown and Malew) about how the MUA has responded to concerns from residents, chairman John Wannenburgh said it has responded to around 40 Tynwald questions, most from Mr Moorhouse.
He said: “As has been stated previously, Manx Utilities needs to have additional information available from the Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) process before it can progress to the formal stakeholder engagement stage within the EIA. Surveys are still ongoing at this stage with stakeholder engagement targeted to have been completed by the end of 2024, when additional information has been gathered.
“It must be remembered that this proposal is only in the feasibility stage and when the stakeholder engagement programme progresses, it will provide an opportunity for residents to fully understand the project and how impacts being assessed are being directly addressed (or avoided) within the design itself. In the meantime the Manx Utilities’ website has set up a dedicated area for Energy Transition, which endeavours to provide as much information as possible and is continually updated and we know that the public regularly access this resource.”
Response
Since the announcement of the potential site some 12 months ago, Mr Wannenbrugh said Manx Utilities has undertaken
the following:
- Attended an initial meeting with Arbory & Rushen Commissioners, as local authority
representatives, and MHKs – 2 August 2023 - Commissioned Wardell Armstrong to specifically engage with local residents in the affected
area to seek preliminary concerns – October 2023 - Stakeholder Engagement update with Mr Glover MHK and Mr Moorhouse MHK – 3 October
2024 - Attended a public meeting invitation from Arbory & Rushen Commissioners, attended by
some 300 residents – 29 November 2023 - Utilised Wardell Armstrong for pop-up meetings held in North, South, East and West to
coincide with attendance at the Arbory & Rushen public meeting – 27-29 November 2023 - Answered questions directly from residents on Manx Radio’s Mannin Line – 6 February 2024
- Various meetings with local residents at location
- Answered resident questions at a public meeting organised by Liberal Vannin on 22 April
2024 - Answered circa 40, political questions, the majority of which were asked by Mr Moorhouse
as one of the local constituent MHKs from July 2023 to August 2024 - Responded to circa 35 Freedom of Information Requests relating to energy transition
- Created a dedicated website area to share information, as and when it became available
- Answering over 200 email enquiries, including utilising the dedicated email address set up
for the project to provide a point of contact
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