Lancaster University opts for wind power

Lancaster University has revealed £5m plans to build two 100m-high turbines, which would provide 4MW of power to supply a third of the energy needed to power its student village. They would sit to the east of the M6 motorway on the university's Hazelrigg campus.

Environment and sustainability manager Jonathan Mills said: "People living close to the proposed sites for the turbines have raised concerns about the visual impact they would have, but we have been able to show them that they would not break the horizon.

"We have looked from points like Jubilee Tower and Quernmore and worked out that the impact would be minimal.

"The other concerns over noise have been reduced a lot by recent new technology and the other worry was about when low-angled sun gives a shadow flicker from the turbine blades.

"All these things we will have to take into account, but I do not believe there are any problems raised which are insurmountable."

Officials from the university have been staging public consultations around Lancaster in preparation for a planning application due to be submitted in early 2010.