CHRISTCHURCH residents have “serious concerns” about the prospect of the Navitus Bay wind farm, says the leader of the council.

The prospect of the £3billion wind park, 12 miles off the coastline has sparked oppo-sition among people in Christ-church.

If accepted, the site could include up to 218 turbines around 650ft high generating power for up to 790,000 homes a year.

Cllr Ray Nottage, speaking at a meeting of the community services committee last Wednesday said residents associations and parish councils as well as other interested parties had expressed resistance to the plans.

Cllr Nottage said: “This is an enormous subject and an enormous issue for the whole of the coast.

“It is being treated as such by Dorset County Council and the districts and borough and there is an awful lot of work that has been done in commandeering a general approach along the coastline.

“As far as Christchurch Borough Council is concerned we want to make certain we are involved because we are responding to the mass of information that is coming from the community in opposition to the Navitus report.

“We have got to represent our community who have serious concerns.

“Every single resident’s association and parish association we have been monitoring has come out with considerable concerns about this development.”

The committee approved a recommendation to put together a local impact report on the plans and also agreed to encourage residents and other groups to respond individually to Navitus’ plans.

Earlier this year hundreds of people packed out a church hall in Highcliffe to hear more about the controversial wind farm plans.

Navitus Bay has recently conducted another series of public exhibitions around Dorset and Hampshire.

They say they are committed to comm-unicating honestly with members of the public to ensure they are given as much information as possible about the plans which will “deliver significant economic benefits to the local community.”