Debate over Nundle Wind Farm dominated by a loud minority says Australian Wind Alliance

Australian Wind Alliance national coordinator Andrew Bray said he's seen the sort of local controversy over projects like the 78-turbine scheme before.

"You've got a bunch of very passionate supporters on one side and a bunch of very passionate opponents on the other side," he said.

"And the people in the middle either literally don't care whether it goes ahead or not - they can live with it either way."

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Mr Bray traveled to Nundle last week to attend a public meeting for 50 locals on the fence about the benefits of the proposed 78-turbine scheme.

Asked if he thought the Hills of Gold Preservation Society, which opposes the development, is motivated by knee-jerk NIMBYism, he said they were sucking oxygen away from a silent majority who wanted to understand it better.

"They want to control the debate and keep the focus on what they see as shortcomings in the project.

"It disappoints many of the people who are more open minded about the project. They want to understand what the opportunities are and they feel that they are not given room to speak about or learn about the opportunities."

But the Society said it was actually giving the community voice.

Spokesperson Megan Trousdale pointed to a statutory declaration collected in 2019 which she says shows the vast majority of locals oppose the scheme.

"Mr Bray and the proponent need to stop calling us a vocal minority," she said.

"When this started there were a lot of upset, anxious and confused people on their own. And they didn't know how to talk about it.

"When we had our first meeting to look at forming a residents and landholders group it gave those people a voice."

She said the Society should have been invited to the Australian Wind Alliance's community meeting last week but said the organisers "did not want to hear the distress of people who face living in view and hearing of the proposed wind turbines".

Ms Trousdale said they had unduly raised an expectation that a number of "big ticket items" would be funded by the multi-million dollar project.

The people of Nundle got their first look at the project in May with the release of a set of photomontage impressions of the turbines.

The project has until November to submit a development application for approval. Managing director Jamie Chivers said in March that they were on track to submit the DA on schedule.