A plan to build a massive wind turbine on the Olympic Park is to be scrapped, raising questions about whether the environmental pledges for the 2012 London Games can be met

A plan to build a massive wind turbine on the Olympic Park is to be scrapped, raising questions about whether the environmental pledges for the 2012 London Games can be met.

A 120m-high turbine at the north end of the park was to have been the symbol for the greenest Olympic Games. It was also key to the organisers’ ambition to produce 20 per cent of the Olympic Park’s energy needs from renewal sources.

But yesterday David Higgins, chief executive of the Olympic Delivery Authority, which is in charge of the infrastructure on the site, said the scheme was “no longer feasible”.

Mr Higgins said that new health and safety measures had meant the original design was no longer viable and the preferred bidder had pulled out. No other contractors had come forward.

“We have carried out an exhaustive process with the industry and suppliers over the last two years to find a viable way of delivering a wind turbine on the Olympic Park site,” Mr Higgins said. “However, the industry environment has changed and that means the project is no longer feasible.”

Yesterday Shaun McCarthy, chairman of the Commission for a Sustainable London 2012, said the ODA still remained on course to meet several of its sustainability targets including a pledge to divert 90 per cent of construction waste from landfill and to transport 50 per cent of materials to the site by rail or water. In addition 25 per cent of materials were to be produced from recyclable or reusable sources (at 37 per cent currently).

By: Jill Sherman, Fiona Hamilton for Times Onlie

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