Hundreds turned out to hear about proposals for a Ramsey Bay marina - in what was billed as one of the biggest public-interest meetings held in the island.

Free shuttle buses were laid on to ferry people to Wednesday evening’s event at Mountain View Innovation Centre, on the Jurby Road just outside Ramsey.

The main studio was packed, with some 600 seats allocated to those who had pre-booked tickets.

Among those in the audience were a number of politicians including Ramsey MHKs Lawrie Hooper and Dr Alex Allinson and Treasury Minister Alfred Cannan.

Robin Bromley-Martin and David Dorricott, two of the island-based businessmen behind the £100m project, outlined their proposals for the 400-berth marina, extended breakwater, 5-star boutique hotel, piazza with bars and restaurants, and housing scheme.

Located between the harbour entrance and the Queen’s Pier, the proposed mooring area would be dredged and the sand extracted from the sea bed used to reclaim the beach for the residential development.

St Jude’s resident Mr Bromley-Martin, an engineer who heads up a company building container ports in west Africa, explained it was expected to take 12 to 18 months to go from the current feasibility stage to securing planning consent.

Detailed design of the marina and breakwaters will follow and then open tendering of the construction contracts.

Dredging will take place during the summer season from May to September, and construction of the residential development will be phased over two years.

No work will start until it the scheme is fully funded, that funding coming largely from the sale of the 150 proposed flats and town houses and debentures from moorings, with berth holders paying advance for 25 or 30 years of mooring fees.

The audience heard that the marina could bring in 19,000 visitor nights, generating £3.5m - although this wouldn’t happen overnight. Some 100 jobs could be created by the project, and a further 200 indirectly, the businessmen said.

A presentation was followed by a question and answer session lasting some hour and a quarter.

Mood at the meeting was overwhelmingly positive and optimistic about the scheme’s success.

But some did raise concerns - about the loss of the amenity of the beach, about funding, the risk of the marina silting up and concerns about loss of views, traffic and parking.

Dr Allinson said afterwards: ’It was a very positive meeting. I went there with very much an open meeting.

’But it needs to go through due proces. There is the environmental impact of building on the beach and reclaiming land. There is no public money going in and the sums have to add up.

’I really hope it gets built but there is a long way to go in terms of environmental impact assessments and getting planning consent.’

Mr Dorricott said: ’Being hosts, Alison and I were delighted that all the very extensive arrangements needed to welcome around 600 people to a meeting at Mountain View went so well - and we are really grateful to everyone who volunteered to help. We know that lots of people were very grateful for the opportunity to engage with the project at such an early stage.

As the team promoting our ideas, Robin, Peter and I were delighted to be able to listen to questions and concerns, and engage in a constructive environment, even where we disagree.

’It’s a credit to the people who came along, that the overall atmosphere of the meeting was polite, constructive and engaged.

’Questions and suggestions are always really helpful, as they will help make the project the best it can be - and whilst a project of this scale may not be positive for every stakeholder, we remain keen to engage with any issues or concerns and try our very best to address them.’