CAMPAIGNERS are celebrating after plans to create Pendle’s first commercial windfarm were scrapped by BT.

The communications giant confirmed that plans for three 95-metre wind turbines on land at Moor Isles Farm, in Woodend Road, on the Higham-Reedley border, have been binned, after residents in the surrounding towns and villages objected to the proposals.

The plans formed part of BT’s UK-wide Wind For Change project, which intends to generate 250 mega-watts of renewable energy per year, providing almost a quarter of the company’s electricity needs.

Tom Martin, head of partnership development for BT’s Wind For Change, said: “Ongoing assessments at Reedley highlighted technical challenges which, when considered against the benefits of pursuing a planning application, have led to our decision not to progress the proposals and instead to focus on other sites.

“BT is a responsible renewable energy developer and we remain committed to generating electricity from renewable sources and so we are pursuing other opportunities throughout the UK.”

John David, a borough and parish councillor who lives in Fence, welcomed the news.

He said: “Frankly I think it was an awful scheme and I’m delighted that BT are not going to pursue it.

“It would have been totally inappropriate for that site and I applaud those people who organised the campaign against it.”

Brian Newman, of Wheatley Lane Road, Fence, who was against the scheme from the outset, said: “The news is very good for the area.

“My thoughts were always that BT say they are so environmentally friendly, so they should go an build an off-shore windfarm.

"That way they could put something back into the electricity system.”