Calls for more scrutiny of wind turbine proposal

Calls have been made for more scrutiny of a proposal for onshore wind turbines in the south of the Isle of Man before the plans are formally submitted for approval.

Chairman of Arbory and Rushen Commissioners Kirri Jenkins said a year-long pause in residents being updated on Manx Utilities' plans for the Cair Vie onshore wind project had left them in a "void".

The proposals would see up to five turbines built at Earystane able to deliver a quarter of the island's annual electricity needs.

Manx Utilities said it understood that "people want clear, timely information as proposals develop", adding the project "remains at an early pre‑application stage".

Jenkins – who is one of the residents who would be affected by the project – told the Local Democracy Reporting Service the sequence of events had been a concern for the authority.

"A generation licence has already been applied for before any planning application has been submitted, and that raises questions about whether decisions or commitments may already be forming before the full details are even publicly available or scrutinised," she said.

A lack of a "single clear consolidated description of the full project", including confirmed turbine locations, cable routes or infrastructure impacts, made "proper scrutiny very difficult", she said.

The board was therefore asking Tynwald members to ask questions about the project before the submission of formal plans, which could restrict their ability to scrutinise the project politically, she added.

In a statement, the government-owned electricity provider said ecological and technical assessments had been "under way since 2024 to ensure that any future application is robust, evidence-based and can be properly scrutinised".

Its application would be submitted to the Department of Environment, Food and Agriculture's Planning & Building Control Directorate before being considered through the independent planning process, it said.

All documentation would be made available for public scrutiny, with the commissioners "formally consulted as a statutory consultee, alongside residents, businesses and other stakeholders".

The project was currently focused on finalising and collating the planning submission, it said, and detailed information shared as part of the planning process would "allow meaningful engagement and proper scrutiny in the usual way".

Financial commitments relating to the project – including procuring parts - could only be made once planning approval was granted and the matter had been considered by Tynwald, it added.

The project forms part of the government's commitment to decarbonise the island's energy supply by 2030

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