Communities in North Cornwall are battling to stop the county's biggest wind farm from dominating the skyline over Bodmin Moor. Emergency meetings have been called by Camelford Town Council and parish councillors following a similar move last week by Davidstow parish council which saw 200 angry residents pack Otterham village hall. That meeting was attended by people from a number of moorland villages who are opposed to a plan by energy company Community Windpower to site 20 turbines near Crowdy Reservoir.

The local authority warned stunning views of the Minster and St Mary's Church would be obscured - especially from the Westwood - if 12 huge turbines were allowed to be built at the village of Routh. A public inquiry into the controversial plans by RidgeWind Ltd to site the 100m-high turbines at Hall Farm began at the council offices in Skirlaugh yesterday. Megan Thomas, representing the council, maintains the visual impact would be significant and provides grounds for refusal.

Controversial plans for a wind turbine on a dramatic Peak District hilltop have been refused permission by the National Park Authority. The National Trust wanted to erect the 12 metre structure to generate electricity for White Edge Lodge holiday cottage on the Longshaw Estate, on the hillside above Grindleford. The National Park's planning committee had recommended an exception be made to its policy of protecting special landscapes from visual intrusion, because of its environmental benefits. But the full authority did not agree, and neither did objectors including the Ramblers Association and Grindleford Parish Council.

Villagers fighting plans for a wind farm on the outskirts of Teesside have called on the area's civil and military airports to back their campaign. They are urging Durham Tees Valley Airport and RAF Leeming to object to the proposed 11 turbines in Bishopton near Stockton and Darlington on the grounds of air traffic safety. "If the turbines mean there is radar or air traffic interference, then surely lives are being put at risk," said action group spokesman Peter Wood. ...An MoD spokesman said: "All applications are assessed on a site by site basis." Similar air traffic safety concerns have been raised regarding potential plans for a wind farm of five turbines between the villages of Hilton and Seamer.

Weeks after plans to locate Europe's biggest wind farm on Lewis were refused, a public inquiry opened on the island yesterday into another controversial wind farm proposal. Opponents are concerned it would set the prehistoric Callanish standing stones in an industrial landscape. ..."Over 20,000 people travelled to see the Callanish last year. The setting is as much part of the experience for visitors as the stones themselves. It is ludicrous that the government would even entertain the idea of marching turbines across such a world-class landscape."

Opposition is growing today against plans to turn one of the largest wind farms in the UK into one of the tallest. ScottishPower Renewables and Eurus Energy want to treble the output of "clean, green energy" at Llandinam in Mid Wales and to replace 103 45-metre (149ft) tall turbines with 42, 122-metre (400ft) machines. When it was opened in 1992, Llandinam was one of the largest wind farms in Europe.

The company behind the controversial East Stoke wind farm has cut its number of proposed turbines by a third. Infinergy, which wanted to build six 125-metre turbines at Masters Pit, Puddletown Road, now plans just four for the site. Project bosses say this downsize is a response to residents' concerns, an explanation that has been rubbished by wind farm opponents. Dorset Against Rural Turbines (Dart) president Terry Stewart said: "The main reason we are against these proposals, and we are still very much against them, is the visual impact they will have in an area of outstanding natural beauty.

The Northampton skyline could be swamped with massive wind turbines if plans to built a 417ft installation at Brackmills are given the go-ahead, an MP has warned. Supermarket giant Asda has applied to build the large turbine at its distribution centre on the Northampton industrial estate. The plans have caused upset among people living nearby and the Conservative MP for Northampton South, Brian Binley, has called for a limit on the structures during a session in the Houses of Parliament.

Campaigners scored a victory against the developers of wind turbines on Tuesday. Plans to build a 60-metre monitoring mast near Tivetshall St Mary by Enertrag UK Ltd were rejected by a South Norfolk Council planning committee. Members of the public packed the council chamber to see six of seven councillors reject the application, with one abstention. They cited visual and environmental impacts among their reasons.

He told the Lynn News: "The intention is to protect the unusual and singular view of places like The Fens and also the lush and picturesque landscape of North West Norfolk. "The Fens is a place internationally recognised as an area of flat landscape where rainbows can be seen end to end and both sound and vision can be measured in miles rather than yards. "The rest of North West Norfolk is also a rare and beautiful place and I am attempting to protect it for future generations by limiting the height of any structure built in open countryside to a very generous 246 feet - which seems to be more than reasonable."

A Wind farm protest group has accused Your Energy of failing to properly assess the visual impacts of its proposed Moorsyde scheme. Moorsyde Action Group (MAG) says the photomontages to illustrate the seven 360 feet high turbines planned between Ancroft North Moor and Duddo are inadequate and misleading. "We have been forced to produce artist's impressions of the turbines from nearby settlements such as Ancroft South Moor because Your Energy Ltd (YEL) have failed to provide them," said a MAG spokesman. ...The county archaeologist is also understood to have asked that impacts on nearby Duddo Church and Duddo Tower should be taken into account. MAG say that Your Energy have failed to provide any photomontages that illustrate the visual impacts on these sites even though the company's own environmental statement admits that the landscape within 3km would be 'substantially' altered and that turbines would be 'visually dominant' within that distance, resulting in impacts of 'major significance'.

Yesterday, E.ON held a public meeting in the Northamptonshire village where computer generated photographs showing what the 377ft turbines would look like from the battlefield were put on show. The plans shocked residents who turned out in force to give their opinions. Wendy Westall, who lives close to where the turbines would be sited, said: "We're utterly and totally opposed to them. "They're just not appropriate for this historic area. Everyone around here is very proud of the battlefield and we want to protect it."

Plans for a controversial wind farm near Pontefract have been slammed by a Wakefield Council consultant. The news has come as a massive boost to local pressure groups fighting a dogged campaign to see off the plans by developers Banks Developments. ...Campaigners in Pontefract claim the wind masts are too close to local homes, will ruin their peaceful community and drive down house prices. ...Since then the Landscape Architect working for Wakefield Council has drafted his own response to the plans. A summary released by PWAG reads: "The turbines are close to residential dwellings. Their height results in them being visible over a relatively large area and the impact on the landscape character of Went Edge will be severe.

AN ACTION group in Tallentire has sent residents a template objection letter to plans for a new wind farm in the area. Novera Energy has applied to Allerdale council to build five 105 metre turbines at Fleeter Wood, on land next to West House. But Tallentire Area Action Group chairwoman Margaret O'Hare said she had sent a template letter to nearby residents outlining reasons against the plans. The group wants as many people as possible to sign the letter and send it to the council. It says: "This proposal would result in unacceptable harm to the local landscape in terms of its intrinsic quality and local distinctiveness.

Plans for two separate wind farms visible from Exmoor have come up against another hurdle. Campaign group Open Spaces Society has launched objections to the projects, stating they would have a negative impact on the feel of the moor. The two projects are the Three Moors scheme at Knowstone, North Devon, where the company Airtricity Developments hopes to erect nine turbines, and Bickham Moor, near Oakford, Mid Devon, where Coronation Power want to erect four. Kate Ashbrook, Open Spaces Society's general secretary said: "We are dismayed that the wind-energy companies keep applying to erect turbines in this part of North Devon. There are already two outstanding applications nearby, at Batsworthy Cross and Cross Moor."

Supermarket giant ASDA has admitted a massive wind turbine it wants to build at its Northampton distribution depot might be visible as far away as Wellingborough. The Chronicle & Echo first revealed ASDA's plans to build a 417ft wind turbine at its Brackmills depot in May. The company wants the turbine, which would be exactly the same size as the Express Lifts Tower, to help power its distribution centre. But latest plans submitted by the company to the West Northamptonshire Development Corporation (WNDC) revealed the massive structure could in theory be seen all across Northampton, and as far away as Wellingborough and Long Buckby.

Renewable energy is the way ahead but not through "grossly inefficient" wind farms which gobble up Scottish Government subsidies, it has been claimed. A new group formed to fight the latest wind farm proposal for Moray aims to galvanise community opposition to the plan. Save Our Scenic Moray (SOS Moray) has been created in Dufftown to try and repel a proposal for a 70-plus turbine development at Dorenell Farm, Cabrach. The action group was formed three weeks ago following public exhibitions by developer Infinergy on the wind farm development on the Glenfiddich Estate.

NATIONAL security could be compromised by more wind turbines in the Swaffham area, but councillors have been recommended to grant permission. The Ministry of Defence warns the six new giant turbines would have "an unacceptable impact upon the air traffic control radar at RAF Marham and Lakenheath and also against the air defence radar at Trimingham". But Breckland councillors could give the go-ahead on Monday for the turbines to be built on an open farmland site between the A1065 Castleacre Road and Sporle Road in Swaffham and Sporle.

DEVELOPERS may press on with plans for a controversial 12-turbine windfarm in North Wales even though a council rejected it this week, it emerged yesterday. Conwy councillors threw out the proposed Mwdwl Eithin scheme in Cerrigydrudion against the advice of officers, who recommended it for approval. ...Clwyd West AM Darren Millar welcomed Conwy councillors' refusal of the scheme which is in his constituency. Mr Millar, the Assembly shadow minister for the environment and planning, said: "This is great news for the countryside. The decision not to grant the application went against the recommendation of local authority planning officers, but represented the views of the majority of local residents.

MAGICAL, mystical and iconic views could be affected if a proposed wind farm in Northumberland is allowed to go ahead, a public inquiry heard yesterday. On day four of the public inquiry into an application to build 18 wind turbines at South Charlton near Alnwick, anti-wind-farm campaigners again clashed with experts speaking on behalf of nPower. ...Mr Stevenson said: "These turbines will introduce an element of dynamism into the environment. There is some evidence from other turbine sites that they become popular and may even become tourist attractions themselves."