New mast application for RAF Coltishall

Ed FossA plan to raise a 70-metre high wind monitoring mast on land at former RAF Coltishall has been resubmitted to move the site of the mast about 400 metres to the south east.Ed Foss

A plan to raise a 70-metre high wind monitoring mast on land at former RAF Coltishall has been resubmitted to move the site of the mast about 400 metres to the south east.

The mast would be a pre cursor to a potential wind turbine to be built at the old airbase once measurements of wind speeds have been taken over a number of months.

As reported previously in the Evening News, officials behind the Ministry of Justice prison HMP Bure, which has been built on part of the old airbase, have been looking at the possibility of a wind turbine on the site.

The prospect of renewable energy provided by the turbine was part of a condition imposed by North Norfolk District Council when the prison was given planning permission.

The turbine plan has attracted extra concern because it could prove a serious problem for a recently revealed plan on the remainder of the old airbase which could see an airliner decommissioning project pump millions of pounds and hundreds of jobs into the local economy.

The latest met mast application has been prepared by SgurrEnergy in Glasgow on behalf of Partnerships for Renewables.

The new planning application states: 'The mast has been located away from the airfield landing strip to prevent any impediment to aircraft using the strip during the period which the mast is in operation.'

HMP Bure takes up around 30 acres of the old airbase with around 600 acres remaining.