Surveys will be carried out on the seabed off the Norfolk coast later in the summer to check whether the area is suitable for the development of an offshore wind farm.

Surveys will be carried out on the seabed off the Norfolk coast later in the summer to check whether the area is suitable for the development of an offshore wind farm.

East Anglia Offshore Wind Limited, which has been granted the licence to build a 1,000 turbine wind farm off the Norfolk coast, has applied for permission to carry out investigation works on the seabed.

Sediment will be removed so that it can be analysed to make sure that the zone is suitable for the wind farm, which is being developed by ScottishPower Renewables and Swedish power company Vattenfall.

If the Marine Management Organisation grants permission for the investigatory work, surveys will take place between July and November this year, but no construction work will be carried out.

If the site is deemed to be suitable for an offshore wind farm, plans will have to be approved by the Infrastructure Planning Commission and it is expected that the first plans will be ready for submission by 2012.

It is hoped that the wind farm, which at its closest point to shore will be about 14km off Great Yarmouth and will cover an area larger than all of Norfolk, will eventually generate enough energy for five million homes from 2020.

Plans showing the position of the investigation works can be inspected at Yarmouth Community Library in Tolhouse Street and at Lowestoft Library in Clapham Road North.