It takes less than five minutes to walk from the church at one end of Moreleigh to the pub at the other but the small community living in the cottages in between have a range of opinions on whether Jonathan Dimbleby is welcome in their Devonshire village.

To some, he is an arriviste whose plans to erect a wind turbine in his garden will spoil their view across the South Hams. To others he is a considerate neighbour who is doing his best to get along with the local residents.

An item in the parish newsletter suggests that plans for the 15m (50ft) wind turbine met with no objections at the Halwell and Moreleigh Parish Council meeting last month but some residents are dismayed by the decision and do not believe that they have been given a chance to put their views.

The most outspoken is Christine Tribble, 90, a lively woman who gestures with a wave of the hand at the view she believes will be blighted by the turbine. "I've lived here 40 years," she said. "Look at the landscape - it's fantastic. I think that the wind turbine is terrible. I have to look right on to it. I'm very worried for the wildlife, too. There are lots of bats and wonderful birds. If you're going to get all that noise then you're going to lose it all."

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She wrote to South Hams District Council, avoiding the local parish council because she did not believe that its members would listen. "It's not only me. There are a lot of us up here who are going to look down on it. There are four of us that I know of who don't want to have it. The rest of the village doesn't mind because they can't see it.

"It has been approved now, so what can we do? I don't know how thick-skinned Mr Dimbleby is. Perhaps if he reads about this then he won't have the neck to do it."

Simon Burr, 58, an antiques dealer who lives a few doors down from Mrs Tribble, is irritated that Mr Dimbleby chose a wind turbine over solar panels, which are less obtrusive. "I could understand if he was running a business down there but he's hardly there. I suppose I'm a classic nimby but I don't think we're going to enhance the area by having turbines.

"We're also concerned about the noise. It's going to drone. It will affect our quality of life. A number of us objected but none of us was available to speak at the planning meeting, unfortunately, so it was nodded through."

The turbine issue threatens to divide the village between those who are content to have it and those who believe that they have not been properly consulted. Priscilla Wheater, a teacher, said that she was not against it but would have preferred solar panels. "It is ludicrous. There has to be something for the environment but why not solar?"

Of the 55 households in Moreleigh, the one that is most affected is least concerned. Jeremy Bishop, 46, a haulier whose property is adjacent to Mr Dimbleby's £750,000 house, said that his initial concerns were assuaged after he visited the broadcaster.

"I'll probably end up a social pariah for saying so but it's a lot of fuss over nothing. He has obviously gone into it with a lot of thought and isn't just someone who has jumped on to the eco-bandwagon. When I saw the plans I thought, ‘My God, it's going to be a horrendous great thing', but I went to an open day [at a wind farm] and I don't think it's going to be that bad."