Demonstrators blocked traffic into the Eden Project in a protest against plans for a giant wind turbine. The 127m (416ft) machine would be put on the northern side of the Eden site, near St Austell in Cornwall, if Restormel Borough Council approves it. Protesters, who called off the demonstration after about an hour, clashed with visitors and police. Environmental charity Eden said the turbine would have to be large to be economical and to power the site.

Campaigners fighting proposed wind farms in Northumberland last night admitted they fear the floodgates opening after developers apparently overcame MoD objections. The Ministry is in advanced talks with RidgeWind Ltd which could see its objection to that company's scheme for Wandylaw, near Chathill, withdrawn. A public inquiry into the bid resumes on Tuesday when the two sides could reach agreement on a condition which would allow the turbines to be erected.

Controversial plans for a wind farm on top of a scenic wilderness has come under fresh attacks from worried residents. Energy firm nPower wants to put up 19 turbines - some as high as 400ft - on Mynydd-y-Gwair. Campaign group Save Our Common Mountain Environment, who have been fighting the scheme since 2004, recently won the backing of TV botanist David Bellamy. Now locals in Pontlliw have thrown their weight behind the plan to kick out the scheme.

Walkers fear too many wind farms will be built in exceptionally beautiful areas of countryside, in particular parts of Yorkshire, the Ramblers Association has said. It said ramblers will see a trebling in the number of large-scale wind farms in the countryside in the next three years. In a response to the Department for Business's draft Renewable Energy Strategy, the association complained onshore wind farms would be erected at the expense of developing other renewables.

Planners from the Peak District National Park Authority have objected to plans for a five-turbine wind farm on the border of Sheffield and Barnsley. The Peak District planning committee has told Barnsley Council that the proposed wind farm on Sheephouse Heights, between Penistone and Stocksbridge, would be a "visual intrusion" that would harm the landscape and impact on the rural economy. Anne Ashe, who chaired the committee, said: "Members of the committee felt that having five wind turbines at this location would have a dramatic effect on the wilderness on the edge of the national park.

Protesters campaigning against a wind farm in the countryside straddling Barnsley and Sheffield have been dealt a blow with a fresh council report which suggests the benefits of the scheme would outweigh the visual impact. The planning application for the five turbines, which would be 400ft tall, has gone to Barnsley Council because the land where they would be sited at Sheephouse Heights falls within the town's boundaries. But they would be so close to the border with Sheffield that the council there has been asked to comment before the application is considered.

Energy business Energiekontor UK Ltd wants planning permission to build nine wind turbines on arable farmland in Aldbrough Road on the edge of the village. Parish councils in the area, including Withernwick, Aldbrough, Hatfield, Ellerby and Sproatley, have also objected to the latest wind farm proposals. The CPRE says the 364ft (111m) turbines would disrupt village life and pose a threat to rare wildlife at the nearby Lambwath Meadows nature haven. Margaret Cockbill, East Riding CPRE chairman, said: "The proposed turbines will be far too close for comfort to village homes.

Baumber Wind Farm Action Group stepped up their campaign at the weekend inviting people to a helicopter ride over the area where eight 125 metre high turbines could be put up. Horncastle MP Sir Peter Tapsell and Gainsborough MP Edward Leigh both gave their support to BWAG and highlighted their opposition to inland wind farms. Sir Peter said: "It is a beautiful part of the constituency and I am wholly opposed to their erection and to inland windfarms generally. The contribution that they make is minimal."

A government "in a muddle" over its energy policy has been accused of allowing developers to make a fortune out of ruining the countryside. Ivor Russell, secretary of the Carmarthenshire branch of the Campaign for the Protection of Rural Wales, said ..."What will our children make of it if they look back in a desert of useless wind turbines that have been made redundant by other major factors like nuclear power?" said Mr Russell in an address to the branch's annual meeting in Llanarthne on Saturday.

It is a landscape immortalised on canvas by JMW Turner and in verse by William Wordsworth, but Bolton Abbey, in the Yorkshire Dales, could be "ruined" by the construction of two wind turbines.

An MP has joined a chorus of opposition against the UK's largest wind turbines. Weaver Vale MP Mike Hall has spoken against the cluster of four 410ft-high turbines, 100ft taller than Big Ben, and would even dwarf the Fiddlers Ferry Cooling Tower if they were built at Aston Grange. After giving evidence at a public inquiry into the proposals he said: "The developers Tegni Cymru have said that a specific planning policy gives them the right to build the wind farm.

Tra Investments Ltd, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Lee Strand Co-operative Creamery in Tralee that had begun site works for an eight-turbine wind farm in the Ballincollig Hill-Maghanknockane area, said that it had instructed geotechnical consultancy AGEC Ltd to undertake a study into the cause of the landslide and that it would make the findings public. In a statement, the company said that they had planning for the wind farm and that "initial site works have taken place over the past two weeks".

A company which began work on a wind farm on a mountain bog in north Kerry two weeks ago tonight said an independent investigation was being launched into the cause of a massive landslide which killed thousands of wild salmon and trout. Tra Investments Limited in Tralee said geological experts would assess what led to a two kilometre long slick flowing off the Stacks Mountains polluting the most important water supplies. ...Eamon Cusack, chief executive of Shannon Regional Fisheries Board, said: "All I can say is that we're following every lead and we're obviously looking at the windfarm as a possible source of the start of the landslide."

Hi-tech maps showing the country's landslide 'hot zones' were given the go-ahead just weeks before a 3km landslide cut off an entire community and led to fears of an "ecological disaster". ...The landslide, which has been put down to the record rainfall levels this month, occurred during construction work on a roadway to an electricity wind farm in the Magha/Kielduff area of Kerry, with its power sweeping away a bridge and imprisoning people in their homes.

Up to 5,000 people in North Kerry have limited water supplies today following a landslide of elevated blanket bog in the Stacks Mountains at the weekend which polluted water courses. The landslide reached over two kilometres in length and up to 55m wide place with mud seeping into north Kerry's most important water sources and the rivers Smearlagh and Feale. ...The Stacks area has been designated for wind farm development and locals had claimed there was a risk of landslides in objections to a wind farm which is under construction.

Kerry County Council says this month's record rainfall is at least partly to blame for the slide, which occurred during construction work on a roadway to an electricity wind farm. Large volumes of peat have so far travelled over 3km, sweeping away a bridge and preventing some residents from accessing their homes.

Powys county council has dismissed claims that it will not decide on future wind farm plans until the local road network is improved as a "misunderstanding", writes Rachel Johnson. However, the council, along with the Welsh Assembly, has hired a team of consultants to look into concerns that local transport links are "inadequate" for the needs of wind farm developers. The Council has not made any policy statement regarding wind farms.

Plans for 10 wind turbines six times the height of the Angel of the North which would be seen by thousands of motorists each day will be unveiled to the public next week. ...Peter Wood, chairman of Bishopton Parish Council and Parishes Against Wind Turbines, said people in the area have had enough. "What you are looking at is an area which is concentrated and will be blighted with these machines," he said.

Pylons are on the march. Britain's electricity transmission and distribution companies are to announce plans for a £10 billion rewiring of Britain. A report due this autumn will warn that if Britain is serious about a low-carbon economy then it must string potentially thousands of miles of new high-voltage power cables across the country. The infrastructure is vital, experts say, because most renewable energy will be generated in remote areas such as northern Scotland or the North Sea - whereas most consumers live in southern Britain.

A West peer yesterday hit out at the Government's plans to create thousands of “monstrous” wind turbines across the country, all well over twice the size of Nelson's Column. Lord Stoddart of Swindon claimed the towering turbines would be an ugly scar in both the countryside or in shallow waters off the coast while being nowhere near sufficient to cater for the nation's energy requirements. The 82-year-old Independent Labour peer said: “It is not widely realised that the Government's new proposals for the installation of 5,000 wind turbines in Britain requires them to be 400 ft high.”