TESCO'S plan for a 10m-high wind turbine at its Cullompton store have been opposed by town councillors who say it would be too noisy.

The grocery giant hopes to introduce the technology to the supermarket car park on Station Road as part of a £100m project to explore sustainable energy sources.

Stores and distribution centres across the country are being examined to identify those suitable to accommodate renewable energy sources as part of the firm's commitment to cut its carbon footprint in half by 2020.

Cullompton town councillors were told that the 6kw Ropatec WindRotar has a noise output of 73db and an estimated lifetime of 15 years. The design is different to the three-bladed conventional turbines, as the vanes rotate around the pole. But Cllr Graham Hollister objected to the plan due to the impact the noises levels could have on travellers living on a site nearby.

He said: "It specifically stated a noise level of 73db so I am against this because that is too loud. We have to bear in mind the showmen who don't have double glazing and live in thin structures and the turbine will be right up to the fence.

"We should reject it on the grounds the noise levels would be too high for the current proposed location."

Council members support the plan in principle.

But they believe any excess noise could also affect patrons at the nearby beer garden at the Weary Traveller pub.

Cllr Ray Weinstein added: "What makes matters worse is that the prevailing wind will blow the noise over to the Traveller — we will have to think of them as it will almost be in their back yard"

The renewable electricity produced by the turbine would be fed back into the store and provide the equivalent needed to power four average households.

Manufacturers Ropatec said the systems were "inaudible" and would help to prevent 24 tons of carbon dioxide emissions from being released into the atmosphere every year.

Cllr Graham Barden, deputy lead member for planning, said: "The turbine is completely different to what anybody would expect.

"But if it is moved nearer to the store there will be problems with wind shadow. For it to work properly, it needs to be as far away from anything as possible."

Information from Tesco states that the turbine would be of a similar height to a lamppost and could be painted in colours sympathetic to the environment. It would operate "just above a whisper."

Melanie Chiswell, Tesco corporate affairs manager for the South West, said: "This is an exciting opportunity and we hope our customers share our enthusiasm for delivering such an innovative project to the Cullompton store.

"We take our environmental responsibilities extremely seriously and our decision to introduce wind power at this store reflects our commitment to reducing the carbon footprint of our existing stores by half by 2020."