HONDA has been given planning permission for a test mast which could lead to 70-metre high windmills at the South Marston site.

Permission was granted by Swindon Borough Council and the test mast, which will be up to 230ft high and 8ins wide, will study the wind for up to 12 months.

The scheme is to investigate the possibility of generating up to 10 per cent of the power which runs the Honda factory.

If it's successful then up to three three-bladed windmills will be erected and they will be between 130 and 2,300 feet tall.

And that could mean blades 66 feet long.

"Now we have planning permission for the test mast we will be on the way to generating some of our own power," said Julie Cameron of Honda.

"The mast will have a number of sensors on it which will, over the period of a year, test just how good the wind is and at what height.

"When we have that information we will know just what we can build in the future."

After the 12-month period Honda will enter a detailed consultation period and the whole project will take around three years to reach fruition.

Honda says it is sensitive to the environment and the Swindon proposal supports the company's global policy of meeting 10 per cent of energy usage through sustainable sources.

There could well be objections to the proposals, even though the test site is a long way from homes.

Globally Honda has set a target of 20 per cent energy efficiency improvement across all operations by 2010.

Honda in Europe is way ahead of that target and is currently on 35 per cent.