Ørsted says it has ‘politely declined’ a belated invite to attend a public meeting about the Mooir Vannin offshore windfarm.

The event, billed as a public information drop-in session, will be attended by the No Offshore Turbines 4 IOM group and is being promoted by Onchan District Commissioners.

It takes place at The Hub on School Road in Onchan tomorrow (Tuesday) between 3.30pm and 6pm.

Representatives from No Offshore Turbines 4 IOM will be in attendance to answer questions about the current proposals.

But there will be no one from Østed there to do the same.

Dr Rachel Glover, who is standing as House of Keys candidate for Onchan in the September general election and says she is currently undecided over the windfarm proposals, said she is disappointed that Onchan Commissioners would host an event where only one side of the argument is presented.

She posted on her Facebook page: ‘It is entirely undemocratic. If both sides are not available, then no event should occur.’

Ross Phillips, clerk to Onchan District Commissioners, said the board had offered The Hub to the No Offshore Turbines 4 IOM Group to host the drop‑in session.

He said the authority will not organise any element of the session, other than the provision of the facility and the promotion of the event.

Mr Phillips said: ‘On behalf of the board, I am currently liaising with Ørsted to arrange a meeting. However, their representatives do not have any availability until July.

‘They have expressed an interest in providing a drop‑in session, but they may not be permitted to do so due to restrictions placed upon them as part of the Marine Infrastructure Management Act application process. Hopefully, there may be a way to resolve this so that Ørsted representatives can provide a session for members of the public.’

But a spokesperson for Østed said they were not originally invited to attend the event.

He said: ‘We were informed about the event on Friday (June 19) and subsequently invited to attend in a separate room should any attendees want to discuss the application with ourselves.

‘We have politely declined that invitation because it would not be appropriate in light of the ongoing, independent, public examination of the consent application.

‘We are not aware of any similar nationally significant infrastructure projects in the UK holding separate drop-in events whilst the public examination of the application is ongoing. In essence, the six-month examination - which is run by Cabinet Office - is the current public consultation process now the application is under consideration.’

Østed said they had engaged extensively with the public and stakeholders for the past three years and since the examination process began in March this year there has been a series of public meetings and specific issue hearings.

‘Throughout the examination process we have responded in detail to comments made by interested parties,’ the spokesperson added.

Onchan MHK Rob Callister said he felt a valuable opportunity to have a joint session had been missed.