Richard Tamplin, the planning inspector who heard the appeal, ‘applauded’ the ‘dedication and persistence’ of Mr and Mrs Bradford and acknowledged that the urgency of meeting Devon’s renewable energy targets for 2010 weighed very heavily in favour of the proposal. However, he judged the benefits were even more heavily outweighed by the unacceptable harm to the character and appearance of the distinctive local landscape around the appeal site. The adverse impact on the viewpoints of Brent Tor, which he said was ‘such an unusual and special place’, and Pork Hill, ‘would damage the special qualities of the National Park’. The size and motion of the turbines would destroy the fragile quality of this ‘quiet, still landscape’ and would be ‘wholly inappropriate’ to the setting of Brent Tor and the scheduled barrow cemetery on the crest of the Beacon just below. The ‘alien feature’ would also cause ‘significant harm to the longer views’ from the National Park and the Tamar Valley Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty. One of the statutory purposes of Dartmoor as a National Park would be compromised. He also considered there would be a significant adverse effect on the residential amenity of people living up to two kilometres from the site.

Within weeks of the Government's Energy Review (1) proposing that planning controls be relaxed to speed up the introduction of wind farms, a new report (2) reveals that badly-sited wind turbines can cause real noise problems for local communities.

FEARS Louth could become a 'forest' of wind turbines prompted town councillors to object to a plan to build the first one in the town. Nancy Stockwell wants to put up an eight metre high wind turbine in her back garden in Grimsby Road, Louth. But Coun Tony Lione said: "I'd hate to see in ten years time a forest of these things around the town. The neighbours will suffer with the noise."

"I have seen a lot of wind turbines and as you move further away you get a vortex effect and it sounds like six refrigerated lorries in a traffic jam.

Some of the protesters who attended the meeting to oppose the new turbine Safety fears have been raised over plans to build a 400ft wind turbine next to a quiet residential area. Concerned residents packed a meeting yesterday to discuss the proposals to put the £2million turbine at Princes Soft Drinks factory in Weaverthorpe Road, Tong, Bradford. It has been hailed as a 21st century landmark for the city and a way of dramatically cutting carbon emissions from one of the district's major businesses. But organisers of the meeting, at Tong Conservative Club yesterday, claim residents could be put in danger if the turbine is allowed.

"I like the idea of green energy," he says. "I just don't want it on our doorsteps." Residents of the tiny village of Routh objected when they discovered land behind their 26 homes was being earmarked for a wind farm. East Riding Council refused the application, but developers RidgeWind have appealed to the Planning Inspectorate, with further developments expected in the near future. And with E.ON proposing an offshore development off the East Yorkshire coast, the issue of wind farms is set to remain on the agenda. The Routh reaction is identical to those seen in other communities when onshore wind farms are mooted.

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.”

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.

The Government says it wants to cut the red tape and expense involved in generating energy from wind, and insists the new rules will come with strict conditions about noise, size and appearance. But rural campaigners said the changes to the planning system could lead to a 'free-for-all' and warned that the countryside was in danger of being sacrificed in the battle against global warming.

The Co-operative Group, which hopes to build the wind farm on land near Langford and Biggleswade, has announced its plans for a package of community benefits, including an environmental education programme and a community trust fund. But meanwhile campaigners against the development have been distributing leaflets at school gates - warning that it could be a potential health time bomb. A couple from Enfield ...are urging people to sign an online petition asking the Government to enforce a buffer zone of at least two kilometres between industrial wind turbines and homes.

Bedford Borough Council rejected the scheme saying the scale of the turbines would impact on nearby homes, historic park land and an ancient monument.

Campaigners objecting to a massive windfarm on a mountain where Welsh prince Owain Glyndwr staged a decisive battle will today stage a peaceful protest. More than 100 turbines, each 140m high, could go up on Mynydd Hyddgen. Developers Airtricity won an Assembly tender for the wind farm, at Nant-y-Moch in the Pumlumon hills above Machynlleth, straddling Powys and Ceredigion.

Throughout the lengthy debate, the couple remained on the fence and were largely untroubled about the prospect of having a wind farm practically on their doorstep. But for the past eight months, Julian and Jane say the repetitive thumping of air and humming of electric has blown away their peace. "It's very hard to describe how I'm feeling after nearly a year of living next to the turbines," says Mr Davis, 42. "The biggest problem is the low frequency noise these things produce. "It is not immediately noticeable, but once you hear it and feel the vibration, it begins to drive you mad. "It's just that little bit faster than the noise of a heartbeat, so your body is constantly racing to catch up. We've had friends who come to stay with us who don't notice the noise and vibration at first, and think we're exaggerating. "It's only after a couple of days that it becomes a constant irritation which you just can't shake off.

When the Siddells moved to rural Ayrshire, they hoped for a life of peace and quiet. Now, at night, they say they can’t hear the television properly because of the wind turbines that loom over their converted steading.

A NORTH Sutherland community stands to gain up to half a million pounds a year in community benefit from wind farms, it emerged this week. But the "pot of gold" has failed to impress some Strathy residents who this week angrily dismissed it as a sweetener, aimed at making them accept major changes to their local landscape. ...The power company wants to build a £90 million, 35-turbine development on the north side of Strathy and a follow-up 77-turbine development on the south side of the forest.

Eight days ago, to the jubilation of its critics and environmentalists, it emerged that the Scottish executive was "minded to refuse" the £500m scheme as it would seriously damage the moor's extremely fragile, internationally-protected habitats for rare birds such as dunlin, golden eagles, merlin, golden plover and red-throated divers. The moor itself is one of the most ecologically-significant peat bogs in Europe. Scottish ministers have since come under intense pressure to reverse that provisional decision before making a final announcement this month. Councillors, crofters' leaders and the developers are vigorously lobbying ministers and the European commission to save the north Lewis scheme, or at least find a compromise. Today the local Scottish National party MSP, Alasdair Allan, will face those bitterly-disappointed people at a meeting on Lewis.

THE first batch of ballot papers were yesterday dispatched to residents who live closest to the proposed site of a contentious 21-turbine wind farm west of Thurso. Caithness West Community Council is surveying the 1000-or-so electors in its patch to find out whether they support or oppose the 57.5 megawatt development. The timing is particularly sensitive as Baillie Wind Farm Ltd's scheme for farmland near Shebster is being tabled at a Highland Council hearing next month. The community council is among the objectors to the proposal, which would add to the existing nearby six-turbine cluster at Forss. But it is pledging to reflect the feedback of the vote in its representation.

An East Yorkshire resident is calling for a change in the law so new wind turbines cannot be built near homes Currently there is no minimum separation distance between homes and the structures, but company director Larry Fleming, from Spaldington, near Goole, wants a 2km limit. Villagers are fighting proposals by two separate developers for 14 turbines standing 400ft tall, three times higher than Howden Minster.

A 110-metre wind turbine is to be erected inside the house of an opposition group chairman - if a new photomontage is to be believed. The document shows one of Your Energy's seven proposed structures near Berwick "piercing" the home of Mike Maud, who leads the Moorsyde Action group (MAG), and another of his properties.

It is believed a twisted blade was to blame for excess noise being reported at the Bradworthy wind farm site.Torridge district council was made aware of the problem, and parish councillors were told at their last meeting it had finally been resolved. Residents had complained of excess noise coming from the site at Forestmoor which is home to North Devon’s first set of wind turbines. Torridge said the environmental protection team was contacted by the parish council and one of its officers visited the site confirming noise levels were higher than normal. The council got in touch with turbine operators, Energie Kontor, and carried out follow-up visits. Both the district and parish councils say noise levels have now returned to normal.