The man who says Palmerston North is on the verge of saturation point from wind turbines has come under fire for his methodology. The Turitea Wind Farm board of inquiry hearing resumed yesterday, and after giving evidence earlier in the proceedings, social impact assessment specialist James Baines returned to the witness stand. The board is tasked with deciding if the 121-turbine wind farm should go ahead.

The man whose research drew attention to public unease about more wind farm development in Manawatu says he is not surprised his work has attracted stinging attacks. Social impact assessment specialist James Baines said a contentious issue raised by his research cumulative visual effects was always going to attract attention. According to Mr Baines' research, public support for wind farms in Manawatu remained strong, but that support was at a "tipping point".

Tasmania prides itself on being clean and green, but controversy is never too far away. A plan to create clean power by building wind turbines on a Hobart office block has been knocked back by the local council. In a fiery meeting last night, Hobart City aldermen said the installation of wind turbines would block the view of Mount Wellington and could even pose a risk to sky divers.

Planning commissioners have given approval for the construction of Meridian Energy's Mill Creek wind farm west of Wellington - but with 29 wind turbines instead of the 31 proposed by Meridian. The visual impact of two of the 111-metre tall turbines, at the southern end of the site, on nearby farms and properties was the principal reason why the commissioners turned them down. The 200-page decision report by independent commissioners David Hill (Chair), David McMahon and Pamela Peters has been released today.

Up to 276 turbines on the Mahinerangi and Project Hayes wind farms would be the main feature of landscape in Central Otago and Clutha, an Environment Court appeal hearing for the latter project heard in Queenstown yesterday. Wanaka landscape architect Anne Steven was called to give evidence by appellant party the Maniototo Environmental Society.

Commenting on the map, which was produced by a witness last week, Mr Whitney maintained it showed significant adverse cumulative effects would result from the Mahinerangi and Project Hayes developments. He considered the adverse effect Project Hayes would have, regardless of other wind farms being built, as being at the upper end of the scale.

Plans for 276 large wind turbines in Central Otago would not "turbinise" the Lammermoor Range in Central Otago, a Meridian expert said. Landscape expert Peter Rough said while the landscape would be changed by wind turbines, its rural character would remain. "It's still fundamentally a rural landscape with an element of energy product," he said in the Environment Court in Queenstown yesterday.

The council has moved to ban turbines from Battle Hill Regional Park near Pauatahanui, park land that was once part of a major wind farm proposal. The rule change which is included in a revised draft of the park's management plan comes just five months after the council revoked permission for RES New Zealand to build three turbines in the park as part of a larger wind farm project.

The power of the people must be used to stop windmills from sullying the Tararua landscape - or the district will be ruined forever, Waitahora wind farm opposers say. ...[deputy chairman Stuart] Brown is urging people to read these submissions carefully. Power companies want to remove the protection of natural features, such as the skyline of the ranges, currently included in the plan, Mr Brown said. And their suggestions that council should consider windmills as "key parts of the natural landscape" and view all rural areas as "industrial" are ludicrous, he said.

Genesis Energy, Trustpower, Meridian Energy and Mighty River Power have all made separate submissions to the Tararua district plan, currently up for review. They are campaigning for new policies to make wind farms a priority in the district, and pushing for a slackening of present guidelines. In the current policy on environmental heritage, the skyline of the ranges in the district is considered a protected natural feature. Trustpower wants this wording cut, with references to the protection of the "skyline of Tararua Ranges, Ruahine Ranges, Puketoi Ranges, and Manawatu Gorge", deleted from the plan entirely.

Opposition planning spokesman Matthew Guy said yesterday the Liberal Nationals Coalition would protect the state's greatest natural assets from wind farms. "The State Government's emphatic promise to defend our iconic natural assets from wind facilities is in tatters with the revelation that Acciona Energy has been allowed to build a $50 million 15-turbine wind farm on the doorstep of the Twelve Apostles and the Great Ocean Road," Mr Guy said.

Perth councillors drew public applause tonight when they denied permission for a new city building to site wind-turbine power generators on its roof. The three bright-red vertical turbines would have reached 9m above the roof of a five-storey building under construction on the southern side of Adelaide Tce, with frontages to Terrrace Rd and Victoria Ave. Neighbours in surrounding high-rise apartments had complained that the Dutch-designed turbines would create a visual eyesore and unnecessary noise, affecting the values of their properties.

In evidence to the Central Otago District Council last year Meridian acknowledged the turbines each of which will have a rotor roughly the size of a Boeing 747 would have an adverse visual impact on the nearby Paerau Valley. But it produced photographic mock-ups suggesting that from other vantage points the mountain block on which they would be arrayed would remain the dominant visual feature. However, Sydney says the windfarm will "industrialise" the landscape for vast distances. "What happens when you put that number of wind turbines of that size in the landscape is that they actually become the landscape. You don't see anything else really."

Tracks linking turbines scattered around the proposed Project Hayes wind farm on the Lammermoor Range would create visual scars additional to those created by 150km of access roading to the site, an Environment Court appeal hearing in Cromwell heard yesterday. ...Upland Landscape Protection Society representative Ewan Carr, of Dansey Pass, argued the tracks would have a significant impact on the landscape, as in order for large quantities of industrial material to be transported around the site, so called ‘‘fit-forpurpose tracks'' would end up being substantial roads. There would be a mass of additional roads, as well as box-cutting for roads and windfarm structures such as turbine platforms, than what is shown by the Truescape computer images of the proposed wind farm. What the court was looking at was not a full representation of the wind farm, Mr Carr said.

Meridian Energy claims its proposed Project Hayes wind farm, comprising 176 turbines on the Lammermoor Range, is an appropriate use of the land, which includes parts of the old Dunstan trail. Meridian counsel Andrew Beatson said Old Dunstan Rd will be changed by the wind farm development, although such alterations would not significantly change the experience visitors had. ‘‘A key aspect of the significance of the site is that it is a place where people can still envisage first-hand the experience of a gold-miner traversing the historic route to the gold fields. This is somewhat artificial given that people are travelling along a significantly upgraded road, generally in the safety of a motor car,'' he said. Mr Beatson said the context and setting of the road were not essential or substantial heritage landscape features, and there was nothing strategic or essential about the views from the road.

The New Zealand Historic Places Trust has withdrawn its opposition to a huge Otago wind farm, saying it lacks the funding to fight every battle. ...Trust chief executive Bruce Chapman said the manner in which the trust prepared and presented its submission was an internal matter, and not one for review through the media. He said the trust's limited resources meant it must focus on particular heritage places. "This requires careful prioritisation, and an understanding that we may not meet every expectation," he said. Ministry for Culture and Heritage spokeswoman Shona Geary said it did not direct the trust to negotiate with Meridian.

After days of detached and often numbing pontifications from hired consultants, it was a stark contrast yesterday to hear some of the closest residents bring a human face to the hearing in Ngaruawahia. "I can only speak from the heart and it is breaking," said Ohautira Rd resident Wendy Reid. She said up to 24 of the turbines would be directly visible from her home of 19 years. Ms Reid variously referred to the wind farm as "a glorified and cunningly gift-wrapped power station", "a gigantic monolith" and "visual pollution" which would cause catastrophic distress, anxiety and fear. "It is dividing friends, neighbours, and families in half," she said. "It is destroying lives and lifestyles and turning me inside out personally.

A wind farm planned for above the Pauatahanui Inlet in Porirua might be seen from as far away as Island Bay and Waikanae. A document leaked to The Dominion Post shows that the 130-metre high turbines would be visible from areas of Wellington City, the Hutt Valley, beyond Upper Hutt and as far north as Waikanae. Prepared by environmental planners Boffa Miskell, the theoretical visibility plans show that as many as 40 of the up to 50 three-megawatt turbines may be visible from some areas. ..."There is a slow growing awareness that this wind farm is going to be something big," she said.

PROJECT Hayes panel chairman John Matthews has released a 12-page statement explaining his reasons for voting against the Lammermoor wind farm proposal. ...He was chiefly concerned with landscape values, the appropriateness of the development and the setting of precedent, including his statement within yesterday's decision released by the panel. ‘‘If a proposal of this significance is found to be appropriate in an area of Outstanding Natural Landscape, it is difficult to see how any consent authority could fail to apply the ‘‘like for like'' principle on a future occasion,'' Mr Matthews said.

The green light to build the world's biggest wind farm in Central Otago hinges on consent hearings which got underway on Monday. Meridian Energy wants to erect more than 170 giant turbines many as tall as a 45-storey building in an area opponents say is too beautiful to be spoiled.