RESIDENTS creating an eco park in Oxford are celebrating after their long-awaited wind turbine reached for the skies.

The 15m structure, which will create six kilowatts of energy in peak conditions, was built on Hogacre Common, off Abingdon Road.

The land, previously Corpus Christi’s sports ground, is being leased by the college for a jar of honey a year.

It features beehives, allotments, a forest school and now the turbine.

Hogacre manager Ben Hayden, 35, said: “We have wanted to get the turbine up here since we started work on the land in January.

“But because there is poor access to the site, we had to bring it off the A34 and across the fields, so it took a bit of work organising.

“It finally went in on Tuesday night and on Wednesday, it started to turn.”

The turbine was funded by the Department for Environment and Climate Change and cost around £32,000.

It is hoped the electricity it generates could bring in £3,000 a year towards other projects on the site.

The money comes from the Government’s feed-in tariff, which rewards people who produce ‘green electricity’.

Mr Hayden said: “It was amazing to see it turn. Half the time we didn’t think we’d ever get it up, so it’s fantastic to see it up and running.”

The group is holding a harvest festival this month to officially switch on the turbine and celebrate other projects.

Mr Hayden said: “For a little while we have been doing little bits here and there but now everything seems to be happening at once.

“And it seemed the right place to celebrate it.”

The land is used by three local primary schools, St Ebbe’s, New Hinksey and West Oxford Community.

The OxGrow allotment group holds open gardening sessions each Sunday afternoon and the land is open to the public at all times.

Mr Hayden said: “Our next big project is getting a fruit orchard on the site, which should be planted in the spring.

“And we’ll be expanding our beehives from one to half a dozen to help the bees along a bit.”

rpope@oxfordmail.co.uk l The harvest festival will run from noon to 4pm on Sunday, October 16. Admission is free.