A PLANNED East Yorkshire wind farm came a step closer to completion with the erection of a meterological mast.

RWE Innogy UK1 installed the mast at Cottam Airfield near Driffield. It will measure wind speed, direction and turbulence at the site and will be in position for up to three years.

The data it collects will be used to decide whether the site is suitable for a wind farm.

RWE Innogy is hoping to build up to ten turbines, each standing up to 116 metres from base to tip, on the former airfield.

Neil Parnell, developer at the company, said: “The installation of the temporary meteorological mast is an important step in the development of our proposed Cottam Airfield Wind Farm.

“The mast will provide us with valuable data which will help us understand the wind conditions at the site. Over the coming months we will be analysing this data and continuing with our extensive studies to determine the sites suitability to host a wind farm.”

The weather mast data will be combined with other data collected in environmental and technical studies to help the company make the decision on whether to go ahead with the proposed wind farm.

The mast got planning permission in January from East Riding of Yorkshire Council, and if the company decides to go ahead with the wind farm, it will need planning permission for the turbines and any other related environmental or building work on the site.