Green town put on hold over plane crash fears

A zero-carbon development near Wigan has been put on hold over concerns that a proposed wind turbine will interfere with air traffic.

English Partnerships (EP) has suspended the bidding process after receiving an objection from the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) about the 150m-high turbine.

The CAA is concerned the 2MW turbine, which would have powered the 650 homes planned on the Bickershaw site, will interfere with light aircraft based at Liverpool and Manchester airports.

EP had been relying on the turbine as a cost-effective measure to lower the carbon footprint of the Carbon Challenge development, but is now negotiating with the CAA to replace it with two 90m turbines.

EP Carbon Challenge project manager Jayne Lomas said the entire project could fail if the turbines were outlawed, as expensive alternate energy sources would rule many bidders out of contention.

She said: "The whole thing with Code level six is where offsite renewables can be located at the moment you can only connect them via private wire, which means they must be very close to work. If we find out we can't use the cheaper wind solution, then the whole plan will need to be reappraised."

EP had been moments away from deciding a shortlist of five to six candidates for the scheme before CAA's objection came in at the "11th hour".

It decided to halt the tender process in case the scheme is radically overhauled.

Lomas said: "Obviously we don't want the developers to waste money putting bids together when the energy solution is not a given. It might turn out they'll have to base their plan on a totally different energy solution."

Meanwhile, the agency said it was in final negotiations with two developers over its Brodsworth site, where 500 homes and 13,500m2 of commercial space is planned.