The Little Law windfarm inquiry heard from a town and country planner who also predicts turbines could take over the scenic spot, shatter the area’s “tranquillity” and dwarf the Ochil Hills. Repeating the sentiments of many in various inquires before him, David Tyldesley, an Edinburgh-based planner of 40 years experience, some of it dealing with windfarms, stated: “The experience of the landscape on the hill tops would change dramatically, from a perceived experience of tranquillity, peacefulness, remoteness and to some extent wildness, to one dominated by the presence of very tall man-made industrial structures, with their moving blades, which would be alien to the landscape.” But he added: “If permitted, a condition should be imposed to require details of the turbines to be submitted to the council for approval and the overall height of the turbines should be substantially reduced to minimise the potentially dominating effect on landform, the visual impact described and the potential effect of dwarfing the Ochil Hills.”

Windfarm objectors are hoping a peaceful protest against a sea of turbines above rural Northumberland will make its point with councillors next week. A symbolic balloon is being floated more than 400ft above South Charlton, six miles north of Alnwick, where plans are being made for 18 powerful wind turbines from energy giants npower in a £50m-plus development. Launched yesterday in glorious sunshine above the peaceful countryside, the giant balloon will stay in place until Tuesday when Alnwick District councillors make a site visit ahead of planning meetings. Rob Thorp, who is helping to lead the objections against Middlemoor Wind Farm, said: “This kind of thing would be disastrous for the area which overlooks the Heritage Coastline.

Residents are celebrating after plans for a wind farm near Beverley were thrown out. East Riding councillors unanimously rejected proposals to build a wind farm with 12 turbines up to 100 metres high at Routh, because of concerns they would spoil the views from Beverley Westwood. As reported on the Mail’s website yesterday, councillors voted against the scheme proposed by Ridgewind Limited amid fears views of Beverley Minster, in particular, would be ruined.

A proposed wind farm in Ashe County should not be allowed because it violates the state’s Ridge Law, the public staff of the N.C. Utilities Commission said yesterday. Also yesterday, State Attorney General Roy Cooper filed a notice he intends to intervene in the issue.

Michael Miller used his actuarial skills to criticize the math behind a favorable report on the White Oak Wind Energy Center near Carlock, and Bob Burger tried to show how the proposed development would “engulf” his view. Miller, a former Carlock mayor, called the 100-turbine wind farm proposed by Chicago-based Invenergy Wind LLC a “mistake for Carlock’s future.” He and Burger were the first objectors called Monday during the McLean County Zoning Board of Appeals hearing on the proposal. The hearing on Invenergy’s request for a special-use permit that would allow for the turbines in McLean County began Jan. 17 and is expected to continue at 6 p.m. today at the Government Center, 115 E. Washington St. “I do not find anything attractive about a 400-foot-tall forest of power plants,” Burger said.

Councillors are being recommended to turn down plans to build a windfarm at Routh, near Beverley, because officials claim the huge turbines will damage views of historic Beverley Minster. An application by Ridgewind Ltd, who want to site 12 of the 100-metre high turbines on land north of Hall Farm at Routh will be considered at tomorrow’s (Tuesday (January 30) meeting of East Riding Council’s Planning Committee. The scheme has sparked objections from several parish councils in the area, including Tickton and Routh Parish Council and Beverley Town Council.

Plans to build a wind farm with turbines up to 100 metres tall are set to be thrown out - amid fears they will spoil views of historic Beverley Minster. Proposals for 12 “monster” turbines at Routh, near Beverley, will be considered by East Riding Council’s planning committee on Tuesday. But concerns the turbines will ruin views from Beverley Westwood have led council planning officers to recommend the plans be refused.

A campaign to stop a 48 turbine windfarm being built at a Berwickshire beauty spot stepped up a gear this week when community councils gathered to voice their protests. Fury erupted last week after it was revealed that council planners are now recommending approval of the turbines at Fallago Ridge. The proposed windfarm - which would be in the middle of the council’s own designated area of great landscape value (AGLV) - was initially opposed by Scottish Borders Council. Now, however, North British Windpower Ltd have revised their application and reduced the number of turbines from 60 to 48. Brian Frater, head of planning and building services, said last week that the plan was now quite different. “They have reduced the scheme and changed it so we felt it tipped the balance.

FARMINGTON–The Maine Land Use Regulation Commission voted, 6-1 against rezoning 1,004 mountaintop acres in northern Franklin County for a 30-turbine wind-energy project today. Only commissioner Stephen Wight, of Newry, supported the rezoning request. The commission's staff had previously recommended the rezoning be approved.

The Flint Hills and Smoky Hills are the last largest pieces of contiguous Tallgrass and Mixed Prairie left in North America. They are recognized as “World Class Grasslands” and cannot be duplicated, replaced, or repaired to its original form once it is destroyed. This point was stressed by opponents of the wind farm who attended the afternoon session with the County Commissioners. Speakers included: Virgil Huseman, Zack Grothusen, Rob Manes, Liz and Steve Donley, Ron Klataske, Wayne Bohl, Scott Bohl, Rose Bacon, Mary Jo Huseman, Joan Bohl, Melinda Boeken and Anne Grothusen. Rob Manes of the Nature Conservancy and Ron Klataske of the Audubon Society of Kansas also spoke on behalf of the groups they represent to keep turbines off undisturbed native prairie. The opponents asked that the County Commissioners place a moratorium on the construction of the wind farm until they are fully informed of the consequences of allowing a wind farm to be built in the Smoky Hills which is pristine prairie grass. Rose Bacon who hails from Cottonwood Falls and served on the Governor’s Wind and Prairie Task Force presented information on “industrial wind utility” developments and siting issues associated with them.

Cumbria’s Everest hero, two high-profile broadcasters, a leading environmentalist and a major landowner have joined the fight to prevent a windfarm being built on fells near Shap. Sir Chris Bonington, Lord Melvyn Bragg, Eric Robson, David Bellamy and the Earl of Lonsdale have all agreed to become patrons of the pressure group Community Opposed to Shap Turbines (COST).

Fury has erupted at the news that council planners have recommended approval of a 48 turbine windfarm at the heart of a Berwickshire beauty spot. The recommendation signals a massive U-turn by the planners who initially opposed the windfarm at Fallago Ridge in the Lammermuirs. The windfarm plan has since been revised to 48 instead of 60 turbines but objectors protest that it will still be a massive blot on the landscape.

A wind farm proposal for rural Northumberland needs to be considerably scaled down to avoid becoming a blight on the landscape, according to a study released yesterday. Developer npower renewables submitted plans to Tynedale Council last year for a six-turbine, 12 megawatt, wind farm on land near Kiln Pit Hill, near Slaley, close to the Northumberland/County Durham border. But the study carried out on behalf of the North East Assembly by Arup with White Consultants concluded that only a small wind farm with an output of less than 7.5 megawatts should be allowed. A megawatt is enough to power between 600 and 1,000 homes. The Regional Wind Farm Development Study assesses the impact of a potential wind farm to help planners decide whether to give it the green light. It says there is “limited scope for development” at Kiln Pit Hill and any wind farm should be at least one-and-a-half miles east from the summit.

The McEvoy Ranch’s plans to build a 189-foot-tall windmill on its North Marin property has put some local environmentalists in the uncomfortable position of protesting a source of alternative energy. Both environmentalists and neighbors are quick to point out that they aren’t opposed to wind power - or even to the prospect of a windmill at the McEvoy Ranch, a project the Marin Board of Supervisors will consider Tuesday. “We’re for renewable energy,” said neighbor Susie Schlesinger, whose Petaluma ranch is powered in part by solar cells and a small windmill. “But the county wouldn’t let someone put up a 19-story building anywhere else without saying something about it. This could be the tallest structure between the Golden Gate Bridge and Portland, Oregon.”

The company behind a proposed windfarm project at Margree will discuss their application with Dumfries and Galloway council officials in the coming weeks. North British Windpower Ltd want to build 25 turbines on the site - which is close to the controversial Blackcraig development. A report from the council’s landscape architect into the cumulative impact on the landscape should both windfarms get the go-ahead hinted towards the design of the turbines at Margree being a potential eyesore. Bosses from the company will sit down with the architect to go over the scheme.

Rival camps have clashed over controversial plans to build more than 200 Blackpool Tower-sized wind farms off the Wirral coastline. Benefits of the giant turbines were blown into question by a damning report, whipping up Wirral and North Wales protestors into a whirlwind of opposition. The allies fear that Wirral has been seriously misled by understated images of the impact from the borough,’ and pledge to lobby NPower’s Gwynt y Mor offshore wind farm project, set to be located in the Irish Sea. In light of recent evidence which found that wind farms fail to produce as much energy as the government had anticipated, watchdog group The Wirral Society is hoping to win the support of local MP’s and preserve the area’s maritime views.

To help the public understand more about the impacts wind developments will have on our local economies in Steuben County, the Steuben Greens have organized a panel discussion on wind issues with five local activists on Thursday, January 18, 2007 at 7:00 pm. The program will be held at 198 Main St. in Hornell. Brad Jones from Naples will speak on his research into the promises of wind power. Steve Trude and James Hall from Cohocton will update us on the efforts of their group, Cohocton Wind Watch, to get more accountability in the DEIS process. Valerie Gardner and Jack Ossont from Yates County will discuss how their group, Democracy NY, works with local communities who want to reclaim decisionmaking powers.

Sir Ranulph Fiennes, the adventurer and outdoor campaigner, has launched a scathing attack on the Scottish executive’s renewable energy policy, claiming the country’s landscape is being ruined by wind turbines. Fiennes, a world-renowned explorer and mountaineer, accused ministers of creating a blight across much of rural Scotland and of putting the country’s tourism industry at risk. He said rural communities were threatened with destruction and urged Jack McConnell, the first minister, to scrap his renewables target until other methods of green energy generation are found.

It is a quiet landscape of dramatic beauty which was immortalised by one of Scotland’s most famous authors. But Dunbeath Strath, through which runs the Highland river of the title of one of Neil Gunn’s best-loved works, has become the focus of the debate on whether wind farms are a boon or a blight on the land. The area, described as one of Europe’s last true wildernesses, is an environmentally important stretch of sparsely populated bog and moorland.

Exmoor’s unspoiled landscape and fragile tourist industry could be damaged by “intrusive” wind farms, a report claims. A warning shot has been fired by the national park’s planning chief as officers consider two controversial schemes near Exmoor’s borders. One is the plan to build nine turbines, up to 110m (361ft) high, west of Hinkley Point in west Somerset, 10 miles from the park’s boundary. The other is for nine 103m (338ft) turbines at Batsworthy Cross, near South Molton in north Devon, less than five miles from Exmoor.