Public consultation is about to start on an 18-turbine scheme being lined up by Npower Renewables for Middlemoor, near Alnwick, Northumberland.

Each will stand around six times higher than the Angel of the North, and be visible from the coast to the Cheviot Hills.

The size of the project was cut from an original plan for 25 masts ( generating up to 75 megawatts of energy, enough to power 40,000 homes.

But Npower says the revised plan will still generate between 75MW and 54MW.

Last night protesters questioned Npower's figures, claiming they were ambitious.

And they were also angered by the lower limit being just over the 50MW threshold which means the decision required for it to go ahead will be taken by the Department of Trade and Industry.

Neville Fawcett, who is an emeritus professor of machine dynamics who recently retired from Newcastle University and lives at nearby Embleton, said: "Their original proposal was for 25 wind turbines, now it has been reduced to 18. This number of three megawatt turbines could only possibly create up to 54 megawatts.

"In any event, there's no proof that the 18 turbines in this location could even produce that. The developer has failed to provide any wind speed data from the site, which makes it impossible to justify the scheme."

Robert Thorp, who farms at Charlton Hall Farm, neighbouring the proposed development, added: "If another couple of wind turbines were dropped from this scheme, then the application would have to be sent back to Alnwick District Council.

"Frankly, this is where it should have gone to in the first place."

Npower stands by its figures, however, saying detailed environmental assessments of the site and the surrounding area have been undertaken over a five-year period, and are included in the Environmental Statement that forms part of the planning application.

The site has already been identified by Northumberland County Council as being suitable for a medium-scale wind farm.

Npower also claims that the site benefits from a number of features that allow the company to design an environmentally- friendly wind farm on what it says is "open exposed farmland that benefits from good wind speeds".

Publication date: 2005-12-12