A PUBLIC Inquiry over United Utilities' plans to create a wind farm at Clowbridge is expected to start later this year.

And today it was revealed that a re-submitted planning application for the scheme is set to be heard at the end of this month.

The public inquiry hearing will involve a government inspector listening to evidence from various sources, including Burnley Council, United Utilities and Clowbridge residents.

Villagers were celebrating in March when plans for a wind farm on land near Clowbridge Reservoir were thrown out.

But now they have been told to go back to the drawing board after Burnley Council changed its local plan to establish areas of land suitable for wind farm developments.

United Utilities announced last year it was considering building a wind farm on moorland it owns on the Burnley and Rossendale border at Crown Point car park.

The proposed wind farm included 12 turbines capable of generating 12 megawatts of electricity and each turbine would have been 72.5 metres from blade tip to base.

One temporary and one permanent wind speed mast, access tracks and a building to covert the power to electricity were also included.

A petition of 121 signatures was handed in to the council and a party from the area went to the planning meeting to voice their disapproval.

Dunnockshaw and Clowbridge Parish Council member Ron Riley said: "We can't understand why United Utilities have put the planning application in again after it has been turned down.

"We were astonished to hear of this news especially after we consulted with the residents and only three people out of all the residents were in favour of the plans, 97 per cent of the parish was against them.

"The turbines are too near people's houses and it's in an area that millions of pounds have been spent on improvements.

"The Lottery Commission also gave us £1.8 million to improve this area to help restore the forest of Burnley back to how it used to be."

United Utilities said the site was identified as having some of the characteristics needed to generate energy from wind, such as high wind speed and good access.

Ian Smith, business development manager for United Utilities Green Energy, said: "We have taken time to review the options open to us and have decided to re-submit our original wind farm plans.

"This follows significant changes by Burnley Council to its local plan to identify areas of preference for wind farms which would help Burnley become of the greenest borough's in the country."

He added: "We believe the Clowbridge wind farm would play a real part in meeting the Government's renewable energy targets.

"Had this scheme been granted, it would have generated clean, green electricity for 8,500 homes and helped combat global warming by reducing carbon dioxide emissions.

"Furthermore, it would have made Burnley one of the greenest boroughs in the country with about 40 per cent of homes powered by clean electricity."