The team behind £100m plans for a marina development in Ramsey have bowed to pressure to find a bigger venue for next month’s public meeting.

They posted on Facebook that there had been an ’incredible response’ to the event which was to have taken place in Babbages, at the Mountain View Innovation Centre on Jurby Road, on Wednesday March 6.

The event is free but by ticket only. But all seats were soon allocated and those wishing to secure tickets via Eventbrite or the Ramsey Marina website were forwarded to a waiting list and informed that if a ticket became available they would be contacted automatically with further instructions.

One Ramsey resident who was frustrated in her attempts to get a ticket said: ’How can it rightly be called a free public event, when the public are not free to attend?’

But now the developers have announced the meeting will be held in the Main Studio at Mountain View.

Spokesman David Dorricott said: ’The Studio is one of the largest venues on the Isle of Man, so all those who have requested a place on the meeting waiting list will shortly be contacted to confirm their place.

’Anyone who has not yet booked a place on the waiting list, but would like to attend, may also now do so.’

The event remains free of charge, but those wishing to attend are still requested to book a place through eventbrite.com or by following the links on the Mountain View Innovation Centre Facebook Page or www.ramseymarina.com web page.

Organisers are also currently making arrangements to provide a shuttle bus service from Ramsey bus station to and from Mountain View in order to reduce congestion, and for those without their own vehicle. More details will be provided for those booked to attend.

Speaking at Ramsey commissioners’ board meeting last week, Juan McGuinness expressed disappointment that the initial venue for the meeting was not larger and more central.

’I am interested in what the developers have to say, but I’m also interested in what the people of Ramsey have to say,’ he said.

The board agreed to approach the organisers to see if an alternative venue could be arranged.

Mr McGuinness also took the chairman, Andy Cowie, to task for telling the newspapers that the commissioners were ’broadly supportive’ of the new marina.

’Unfortunately it gave the impression that we have been closely involved in this, when we have not - and that we are broadly supportive of it when we may be or we may not,’ he said.

One of the businessmen behind the project, Robin Bromley-Martin, told the Examiner: ’There will be more public meetings as the marina goes through its design stage.’

There will be an exhibition of the marina plans held at Ramsey Town Hall from March 4 to 30 during normal opening hours.

The Queen’s Pier Restoration Trust said it would be studying the plans closely.

It said: ’The potential investment from private sources of £100m could be extremely significant for Ramsey and the north in general. No project of this size has been mooted in Ramsey before.

’However, there are many hurdles to overcome before we can properly evaluate how the final plans would affect the Queen’s Pier: consultancy with interested parties, detailed marine, ecological and environmental surveys plus planning - which in itself is likely to be prolonged.

’The trustees, and their volunteers and supporters, will study all the plans as they are developed and will request interested party status when, and if, the project reaches the planning stage.’