Protesters against plans for 19 wind turbines each more than 400ft high on "West Glamorgan's last wilderness" have joined a new European-wide campaign against wind energy schemes. Opponents of proposals by npower renewables (sponsors of The Ospreys rugby team) for the wind turbines on common land on hills at Mynydd y Gwair north of Swansea say the project will ruin the upland area which has remained unchanged for hundreds of years. Save our Common Environment (Socme), which is fighting the plans, has joined the European Platform against Windfarms representing growing disenchantment with the schemes.

Residents in an East Yorkshire village are being urged to join an action group against plans for a wind farm on their doorstep. Fears about homes being devalued has led to opposition to a scheme for a five-turbine wind farm on land at Sancton, near Market Weighton. Sancton Windfarm Action Team (Swat) was set up after a ballot of villagers at a public meeting showed that 85 were against - and just 29 for - the development.

Energy firms are undermining the planning process by offering sweeteners worth hundreds of thousands of pounds to communities living in the shadow of new wind farms, critics claim today. The Campaign to Protect Rural England says growing numbers of 'goodwill payments', which include sports pitches, play areas or pensioners' lunch clubs, bring the planning system into disrepute. Such gestures could 'be seen as akin to buying planning permission' and should be banned, it said.

Developers are "bribing" communities to back wind farms by offering to pay for lunch clubs for pensioners and children's play parks, according to campaigners. The Campaign for the Protection of Rural England (CPRE) say at least 35 communities have been offered so called "goodwill" payments - one for every English region - by developers interested on building wind farms in the area. ...However, developers say the payments are a transparent and routine part of "corporate social responsibility" which offers money to the community where large scale developments are planned.

Rumours that giant wind turbines at Camber are sinking into the marsh have been scotched. Neale East, of the Wind Farm Liaison Group, said: "No they are not sinking. There is no truth in this whatsoever. "All 26 turbines are now up and the next construction work to take place will be putting up three metereological masts.

The battle lines have been drawn up over plans to build a wind farm on a tract of farmland in Bower. Unanimous opposition was tabled to the proposed 13-turbine venture at Durran Mains by 60 or so residents who attended a meeting on Friday evening organised by a local protest group. The forum was arranged in the wake of the lodging of a planning application for the 19.5 megawatt development.

The Crown Estate, which owns almost all of the UK's sea bed for 12 nautical miles, is in the process of leasing out large tracts of it to developers. The largest of the planned wind farms, the London Array east of the Thames estuary ...A recent report by a committee of MPs showed that in most of the remote locations where wind farms are being built, there is no access to the national grid. In some places, developers are facing 12-year delays before they can be connected.

Each turbine would stand 137m (449ft) high. Wind energy consultant Geoffrey Sinclair said that would make them taller than any currently on mainland UK. As part of the project npower plans to fund a major habitat restoration project in the area. The turbines at Carnedd Wen will have the capacity to generate between 130 and 195 megawatts ...

The controversial Scout Moor Wind Farm was officially opened today. The Edenfield moorland wind farm will generate enough power to supply the needs of 40,000 homes, which is the equivalent of roughly half the houses in Rochdale. ...Construction on the wind farm began in 2006 when Nordex was appointed to manufacture the wind turbines from its German factory. Opposition to the development had been fierce since Scout Moor was first identified as a possible site for a wind farm. Rochdale MP Paul Rowen was against the development and Norden residents set up a campaign group, Friends of Scout and Knowl Moor, to retain the area as common land.

The visual impact of Cornwall's biggest wind farm is under review after protesters challenged "misleading" claims it would have a minimal effect on the Davidstow countryside. Developer Community Windpower Ltd has confirmed it will carry out an "in house review" of the photomontages submitted to North Cornwall planners as part of the company's Environmental Statement ...

Energy giants E.ON UK have denied claims they are having problems with the construction of the Robin Rigg windfarm. Rumours in recent weeks have suggested they were having difficulty installing the foundations for the turbines in the Solway Firth due to the amount of sand. ...Developers hope it will be completed next year and it should produce 180MW of electrical generation.

An advertising watchdog which said a leaflet about a proposed wind farm was misleading and untruthful has withdrawn its ruling. The Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) today confirmed it had withdrawn the ruling against campaign group Fenland Landscapes Against Turbines (FLAT). A spokesman said: “We have since found out that the leaflet which was sent out was political material, which is beyond the remit of the ASA, so we have withdrawn our adjudication.”

Energy bosses have now pledged to expand Burnley's flagship wind farm just days after a report branded them a waste of money. Scottish Power has said the 24-turbine Coalcough farm, sited on hills above Cliviger, has been a success since it opened in 1992, supplying power to the National Grid. No details have yet been announced on how extensive the expansion will be.

Wind farms are failing to deliver value for money and distorting the development of other renewable energy sources, a report claims.

The Steam Packet is 'extremely disappointed' the UK Government has given consent to the development of a windfarm across its shipping line. The creation of a new windfarm at West of Duddon Sands, located 14km southwest of the Barrow-in-Furness coastline, was granted planning permission by UK authorities. ...the Steam Packet says the UK Government has given consent to the windfarm development without properly taking into account either the 'navigational concerns or the environmental costs of forcing ships to detour around the site'.

Unesco, the UN's cultural agency, has told ministers in London and Edinburgh that it wants urgent action to protect seven world heritage sites which it claims are in danger from building developments, and said in some cases the UK is ignoring its legal obligations to protect them. Their complaints range from decisions to approve new tower blocks in central London, such as the 66-storey "shard of glass" at London Bridge, to the failure to relocate the A344 beside Stonehenge despite promising action for 22 years, to a proposed wind farm which threatens neolithic sites on Orkney.

The decision on whether four wind turbines will be built at Aston Grange will be known in October. A week-long planning inquiry ended at Forest Hills Hotel, Frodsham, last Wednesday. Weaver Vale MP Mike HallPlanning inspector Andrew Pykett heard evidence from developers Tegni Cymru and opponents to the plans to build four, 410ft high wind turbines at Aston Grange.

Council bosses have defended using thousands of pounds of taxpayers' money to employ outside consultants to evaluate a planning application for a wind farm in the ward represented by the authority's leader. East Staffordshire Borough Council has already set aside £5,000 as a 'contingency' against plans to build a wind farm at Bagots Park, near Abbots Bromley. ...The proposal currently hangs in the balance after planning staff at the council revealed that they had been bombarded by letters both supporting and opposing the bid, following an extensive public relations and marketing campaign by Airtricity.

Airtricity has hit a major setback with a proposed wind farm in Norfolk, after two landowners opted to pull out of a project to build a new 12 turbine wind farm. Norfolk community, preparing to fight plans for a 12-turbine wind farm, is celebrating after landowners pulled out of the scheme. Airtricity Development had faced strong opposition to plans for the 125m turbines in Mosseymere in Norfolk, with a local community group being formed to fight the development.

The 500-megawatt Duddon Sands offshore wind farm scheme planned off the coast of Barrow-in-Furness, Cumbria, is one of the largest offshore wind farms to get the green light in the UK to date. Comprising up to 139 turbines near Walney Island, the wind farm was announced by Prime Minister Gordon Brown at a speech to business leaders at the CBI Scotland's annual dinner last night. ...An industry official said it would take several years to build a wind farm of this scale and that it would require investment of well over £1bn.