A FACILITY for moving wind turbine blades from a proposed Newport factory to a barge in the River Medina has been short-listed for a national award.

Bournemouth planning consultancy Terence O'Rourke, supported by the Isle of Wight Council, English Nature and the environment Agency, has been nominated for the Royal Town Planning Institute annual awards due to its environmental work on the £1.2m Marine Transfer Facility at Dodnor.

Winners will be announced at a prestigious ceremony in London in the new year.

The MTF was for Danish wind turbine manufacturer, NEG Micron Rotors and its UK technology centre at Dodnor.

Blades up to 40m long are transported from the centre via the river to Southampton where they are exported to wind farms around the world.

The project has generated more than 400 jobs for the Island without damaging the environmental balance of the river.

Terence O'Rourke was initially responsible for NEG Micron Rotors' planning application for the research, development and manufacture of wind turbine blades at Newport.

Export could only be made by water direct from the factory, so an application was made for a nearby MTF across the Newport to Cowes cycleway and into the river. This involved developing a small area of land within the Medina estuary with intertidal mudland habitats protected by European conservation rules so full environmental impact assessments were undertaken.

Care was also taken to design a barge that had minimal impact on this, but which was also robust enough for cross-Solent journeys to Southampton Docks. The facility will be used to export over 1,500 blades in 2003.

Terence O'Rourke director, Tim Hancock, said: "We are delighted to have been involved with this successful project."