Belgium said it will take legal action against France over the 600MW project under development by an EDF-led consortium off Dunkirk, in another headache for the French offshore wind programme.

The Belgian minister for the North Sea Vincent van Quickenborne claims the up to 46-turbine project, 11km off Dunkirk on the northwest coast of France adjacent to the border with Belgium, is too close to shore and interferes with shipping routes to the UK.