A PAIR of disused wind turbines in Southampton will be torn down “very shortly” – even though they have been spotted rotating.

The turbines have been in place at Helical Trade Park in Millbrook Road for four years without ever being operational and the firm that manages them has pledged to take them down.

But a recent sighting of the blades turning sparked hopes that the structures could be brought into use.

But CBRE Global Investors, which manages the industrial park on behalf of the ICL Pension Trust, has dashed those hopes, insisting that the turbines’ days are numbered.

A spokesman told the Daily Echo: “The wind turbines are not working.

"Strong winds released the brakes which made them turn and they have now been secured again.

"They will be taken down very shortly.”

An investigation by the Daily Echo revealed how the turbines were positioned in the wrong place anyway, and the development of a nearby recycling plant has had an impact on the airflow, according to CBRE Global Investors.

The turbines were managed by a firm called Proven Ltd when they were bought at the end of 2009.

But the firm went into liquidation just months after they were built.

The business was acquired by a firm called Kingspan Renewables, which confirmed to the Echo that it has never been responsible for maintaining the turbines.

At the time, Cllr Asa Thorpe, Millbrook ward councillor on Southampton City Council, said that the dormant turbines were a “missed opportunity”.

CBRE Global Investors said that it had agreed with the council that they were suitable for removal and that “not enough energy will be generated to make it financially viable to repair them”.