A HOTEL owner is being driven batty by planning delays for a wind turbine that could bring green power to his business.

Stuart McGlynn, who owns the Norwood Hotel, Whalley Road, Accrington, hopes to place a small turbine on the side of his detached house, behind the hotel.

But the possibility that a bat population may be roosting nearby has put a temporary halt to the plans until a wildlife survey is carried out.

Mr McGlynn, 41, said: "My family and I are really into being environmentally friendly.

"The turbine would provide us with energy without creating carbon dioxide emissions.

"If it is successful we want to put them on to the hotel too."

The father of two added: "We want to save energy any way we can.

"My wife Denise and I have got children so we believe we have got to look after the Earth for them.

"This has been one of the warmest but wettest Decembers on record - what does that tell us?

"We have to do something about global warming."

However, officials at Hyndburn Council have deferred his application for the turbine, which has cost Mr McGlynn £1,498, because a neighbour has complained that bats living nearby might be affected by the spinning of the 1.75m blades.

This is the first application of its kind that the council has received.

Brent Clarkson, of Hyndburn Council's planning department, said: "We have approved one or two applications for much larger free standing turbines but we have never had an application for a smaller one.

"We aren't bat experts so we contacted the ecology section at Lancashire County Council and the environmental organ-isation Natural England.

"Both came back saying that a bat survey would need to be carried out because it is an offence to disturb roosting bats."

Bats are a protected species in the UK and it is an offence to damage or destroy a breeding site or resting place of such wild animals, with certain exceptions.

A spokesman for Natural England said: "Larger wind turbines have been found to kill bats when they fly into them, but we still don't know a lot about smaller turbines.

"If there is a bat roost near the house it does raise concerns, but as long as it is not too near the roost or a bat flight path line it is not a problem - and wind turbines are a good way to create supplementary energy.

"A surveyor will search under the eaves of the nearby houses for bat roosts and will observe the sky at dusk, which is when bats fly about, but the bats are hibernating in winter so it can not be done at the moment."

Mr McGlynn said: "I just want to get the turbine up and start saving energy.

"At the moment I am in no-man's land and it will be like that until summer.

"Hopefully the results of my survey can be used by others so anyone wanting to put up a turbine will not face such long delays."