Up to 15 members of the West Catlins Preservation Society (WCP) and Contact Energy staff were to have met recently.
Contact is planning to build a large wind farm on the hills behind Wyndham.
Preservation society spokesman Dean Rabbidge said Contact staff agreed to meet members of the society in a small room at the Wyndham Community Hall.
However, society members decided to open the meeting up to the community and booked the hall for the meeting.
"We were probably a wee bit cheeky."
When Contact staff heard about the public meeting, they declined to attend.
Since May, Contact staff have hosted six community open days, kept the website up to date with information, and project team members were available to answer questions via phone and email.
The society had been "consistently and respectfully asking for a wider public meeting so we can get the presentation Contact are providing for the likes of Doc, iwi, district councils," Mr Rabbidge said.
"We don’t know what we don’t know."
Contact denied the society’s requests for a public meeting, he said.
The drop-in sessions were limited in the amount of technical detail provided, he said.
"It’s all very happy clappy, lots of pictures and fancy brochures without the nuts and bolts.
"We feel as though we need more."
The company has received approval to fast track the consent process, which means the Environmental Protection Authority will convene a panel to assess the application.
The process takes about six months.
Contact head of wind and solar Matthew Cleland said staff recently organised a time to meet representatives of the WCP.
"We mutually agreed the purpose was to provide information on what will be included in our application to help the WCP group response to the EPA."
Prior to the meeting the company learned the meeting was open to the public.
"We determined it was better to postpone the meeting with WCP group representatives to a later date, at an appropriate venue."
The company had been open about the project, he said.
"We have provided information as we’ve progressed the project."
Contact planned to apply for the resource consent by the end of the year, he said.
- By Sandy Eggleston
