A backbench MHK is calling for Tynwald to have the final say on windfarm proposals.

Glenfaba and Peel MHK Kate Lord-Brennan is proposing an amendment to a motion on renewable energy production in Tynwald this week.

Her amendment calls for every nationally significant wind turbine renewable energy development application, whether on land or at sea, to be subject to ultimate approval by Tynwald as a final step,

This would be in addition to any approval or consent granted by the Department of Food and Agriculture or the Council of Ministers, under established law.

Ms Lord-Brennan said: ‘Where developments have potentially significant and long-lasting implications for our landscape, territorial waters, infrastructure and communities, and where there are many questions unanswered and a need to consider impact and benefit in the round by elected representatives, there is a clear public interest in ensuring that Tynwald itself has the opportunity to consider and determine such matters.

‘Members of the public feel that these proposals are too big for that not to happen.’

She said that Orsted’s current Mooir Vannin windfarm proposals go back two administrations.

She said a lease agreement was signed by the DoI in 2015 and an act promoted in the House of Keys around the same time, with little debate and appreciation for what may be allowed to happen.

Some 87 wind turbines are proposed for Mooir Vannin, with a maximum blade height of 350m above low tide - significantly higher than those in the Walney windfarm off the Cumbrian coast.

Orsted says Mooir Vannin will contribute in the region of £2bn to the Manx economy - and no financial burden will fall on the taxpayer.

But at a public meeting held at Comis Golf Club concerns were raised about how exactly much revenue the island will receive, the cost of decommissioning and fears that it was already a done deal.

Ms Lord-Brennan’s amendment is to a motion tabled by Arbory, Castletown and Malew MHK Jason Moorhouse who says the drive to renewable energy should not be pursued at any cost.

He says it should instead be delivered in a way that protects our environment, respects local communities, and represents genuine value for money.

Ms Lord-Brennan said MHKs are not involved with the windfarm plans to the degree people expect and imagine they should be.

The Council of Ministers, meanwhile, was effectively acting as a planning authority, and its ‘de-politicised role’ is ‘severely disconnected from public will and parliamentary scrutiny’, she said.

‘The reality is we will not get a political vote on it. Tynwald and the public are caught up in the middle of something instigated over 10 years ago, with no policy reference, opaque information. Enough is enough.

‘The least this Tynwald can do now is to pave the way to provide for the next Tynwald to determine outcomes on these projects generally.’

She said her amendment is ultimately about helping to close what many people increasingly see as a democratic gap around nationally significant infrastructure decisions.