Opportunities might arise in the future to challenge the scheme as planning permission was sought for various stages of development. "At the moment we have to regroup and we will have to decide what we intend doing," he said.

The meeting, organised by Highcliffe Community Association and chaired by Dorset County Councillor Alan Griffiths, heard from both the wind farm developer Navitus Bay Development Ltd and opposition group Challenge Navitus.

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.

Planning minister Nick Boles has reportedly told energy minister John Hayes that "local people have genuine concerns" and that "wind farms are not appropriate in all settings". He has furthermore warned his colleague that people "bitterly resent" having onshore wind farm developments imposed on them by planners after an inquiry.

Countryside campaigners have warned that vast swathes of tranquil landscapes could be blighted by a "hurricane of wind farms" as it emerged new plans have been put forward for more turbines in Bronte Country.

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.

Nicola Brierley says she has pain in her ears and hasn't had a good night's sleep following the arrival of the controversial facility in September 2008. She claims a low frequency droning noise, similar to the sound of a helicopter, is constantly pulsating into her home, approximately a mile-and-a-half away from the 26 giant turbines on the moors above Norden.

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.

"However, the proposed wind turbine threatens to despoil the entire area - it will be intrusive to eye and ear; it will disturb the tranquillity and cast a shadow over all who come here, city child or visitor, and over those of us who live here and love this place."

"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.”

The Flixborough Grange wind farm inquiry has heard evidence from a dad who says turbines harm his autistic sons. Trevor Glathorne spent two hours giving his evidence to the Flixborough Grange inquiry at the Kingsway Centre. He said the Bagmoor Farm turbines had already had an unforeseen impact on his twin boys Lewis and Ross, both aged eight.

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.