It was left to councillors to work through the fears, despite a petition which claimed to have more than a quarter of the town's signatures against the development.

Wellington mayor Councillor Rod Buhr said he was hugely disappointed.

"Council organised the meeting between ERM's noise expert and Martin Sannikka so that all the data and facts could be evaluated and tested by the respective parties," he said.

"I am extremely disappointed that Mr Sannikka chose not to attend the meeting.

"Much of the concern in the community has been generated by a document produced by Martin Sannikka where he calculated noise levels produced by the plant were well above those predicted by Parsons Brinckerhoff, the international firm employed by ERM to produce the original environment assessment.

"In Mr Sannikka's absence I presented the map and noise data he had produced," Cr Buhr said.

"It became apparent that there were significant flaws in Mr Sannikka's data." 

"He has used a calculation method which is totally unsuitable for this type of project and has thus produced a scenario which is simply incorrect.

I feel that people have been seriously misled by incorrect data and that is of great concern to me," he said.

ERM Power's chief executive Derek McKay said representatives from ERM Power and independent noise consultants Parson Brinckerhoff travelled to Wellington to attend a meeting with members of the Wellington Council and community on Wednesday April 15.

"ERM Power was pleased to have the opportunity to bring the Parsons Brinckerhoff consultants to Wellington to explain the basis of their findings that the proposed Wellington gas-fired power station project would have minimal impact on local residents," he said.

"The consultants also explained that their work was subject to a rigorous peer and external review process to ensure it adhered to national and international best practice."

"Wellington councillors and staff asked questions and participated in discussions to ensure they understood the nature of the noise studies and the results.

"Parsons Brinckerhoff is a global professional services firm that has considerable experience in environmental impact statements and specifically in relation to this project. The firm has been engaged since the inception of the project and has been required to conduct a number of studies as part of our development proposal for the power station to account for the changes in the configuration of the project to reduce the impact on the Wellington community and the tightening of NSW government noise regulations," Mr McKay said.

"We remain committed to keeping the Wellington community informed about the project and are arranging an inspection of our peaking power station at Oakey in Queensland for the Wellington mayor and other Wellington community members to demonstrate how a gas-fired power station can successfully co-exist with the surrounding community."

ERM'S Power's executive general manager development Wayne Moulday said the meeting was very productive.