A national park authority is appealing against a wind farm in Derbyshire after a government inspector gave the green light to four turbines overlooking a scenic reservoir. The Peak District National Park Authority will take its appeal to the High Court.

Energy company chiefs are set to make a new compensation payment to the Northumberland village cut off by a wind turbine transporter crash seven months ago. EDF Energy Renewables is organising an £18,000 donation payment to Otterburn Parish Council.

Ed Miliband, the Energy Secretary, announced yesterday that planning rules would be changed to make it easier for 6,000 onshore wind turbines to be built. Britain's "default position" would be to accept new onshore turbines, he said. The expansion in wind farms was included in the Government's Renewable Energy Strategy, which aims to cut energy use and carbon dioxide emissions, and reduce Britain's dependence on fossil fuels.

A retired GP has sparked a row in his picturesque Northumberland village by planning a £40,000 wind turbine in his back garden. Dr Steven Ford wants to erect the turbine - which would measure 17.8 metres from base to blade tip - in a field behind his home in Heugh House Lane, Haydon Bridge, a row of 20 properties in the countryside overlooking the Northumberland village.

"However, the area is now under imminent threat from wind farm developers. Separate plans from five different companies, if allowed to go ahead, would see the village encircled in a virtual ring of steel, which would devastate the local environment and put the villagers' way of life in peril."

Concerned residents of two communities on the edge of the town are preparing to do battle over a proposal for two massive wind turbines near the A14. Pinewood and Belstead parish councils are working together to establish what is planned for land at Thorington Hall between the two villages.

A Powys council spokesman said: "The Welsh Assembly Government and ourselves have asked each of the wind farm companies wishing to build in Powys to clearly demonstrate that they can actually get to the sites they have proposed. "However, we will not allow every road in Powys to be used."

A new planning law, set to be launched by the Scottish Government tomorrow, could introduce such strict rules that it would make it impossible for wind turbines and other energy products to be used in homes in Scotland. ...The new law says that homes in which the owners want to install a micro wind turbine or an air source heat pump, which absorbs heat from outside to warm up buildings, would have to be at least 100 metres from its nearest neighbour because of the noise they make.

Plans for two large windfarms in rural Denbighshire were yesterday snubbed by officials - despite Parliamentary orders to increase renewable energy production across the UK. Among the reasons cited were fears the removal of trees might lead to flooding, noise pollution and a possible adverse effect on tourism. Denbighshire councillors were advised by their own planners to give the green light to two windfarms totalling 29 turbines. But the county snubbed both plans - and went firmly against their officers' advice. The decision comes despite the same committee agreeing last year there should be windfarms on the exact same spot. ..."This sends a very clear message to the Assembly and to Westminster that local politicians want to determine local planning decisions made on local issues, and not be dictated to from elsewhere. "However, residents are very aware this is unlikely to be the end of the matter."

The Wind Farms Awareness Group before the meeting. The encroachment of wind farms into Perthshire was again halted by councillors as another five proposed schemes were knocked back.

Plans to increase the size of ‘giant' turbines on Frodsham Marshes will ‘blot out the landscape' and ‘cast a shadow across hundreds of homes', say campaigners. ...Campaigners are outraged with changes to the original application, which could see the size of the individual turbines increase from a width of 90m to 100m.

"The people of the village who were eligible to vote in the parish poll in August have shown that they do not want the wind turbine farm or the anemometer and the planners have taken that view on board in making their decision," said Mr Taylor. Also pleased at the result was Reg Thompson, vice chairman of the action group called Against Turbines at Chiplow". He said : "With over 500 off shore turbines approved along the Norfolk coast, the county has more than met its quota for renewable energy. I believe that the decision at the meeting sends a clear message to the power companies and greedy landowners that there should be no more shore wind farms blighting our beautiful Norfolk countryside".

The march of the wind turbine seems to be slowing. Two major windfarm proposals for the North-east have been knocked back in recent weeks. ...Surveys show that most people support the idea of windfarms. But at a local level, campaign groups talk of industrialising the landscape and question the green credentials of the windfarm business.

John Prescott, the former Deputy Prime Minister, will today launch a ferocious attack on the "landowners and nimbys" who he says are holding up the installation of wind farms across Britain and thus hindering the fight against climate change. In unashamed class-warrior style, Mr Prescott lashes out at opponents of windpower who successfully block planning applications for wind turbines because they may spoil their "chocolate box view".

A pioneering study controversially overlooked by borough planners when the Moorsyde wind farm decision was made has won a prestigious national award. The Regional Windfarm Development Study, which was produced on behalf of the Assembly by White Consultants with Arup, won a highly commended award for strategic landscape planning in the Landscape Institute’s 2006 awards. The study looked at the cumulative impact multiple wind farm developments in Northumberland would have on the area’s landscape and provided a method for doing this that can now be used across the country. Moorsyde Action Group (MAG) highlighted the study in criticism of the borough council’s recommendation to approve the ten turbine wind farm between Shoresdean and Duddo.......... A MAG spokesman said: “This study not only promotes understanding of the sensitivities in different types of landscape but also brings objectivity in assessing the impact of wind farms on peoples’ lives.”

"'Shadow-flicker' is a recognised problem with wind turbines. That's why they aren't built near housing developments. And we want to be good neighbours."

In a report to councillors, David Rush, development control quality manager, said the decision came down to a balance between support for renewable energy and the harm a wind farm would do to the landscape. He said: "I do not consider the economic, climatic or ecological benefits accruing from the scheme outweigh the substantial harm caused by the scale of this proposal."

Villagers are being urged to pen their objections to show "the strength of feeling" against a proposed 50-metre mast for Elvington. Parish councillors have lodged their opposition to Yorkshire Water's bid to install a wind monitoring mast at its water treatment plant at Elvington. Now they are urging residents to follow suit by appealing to City of York Council. The council also claims residents have been given "insufficient opportunity to comment". Fears have also been raised about how quality of life could be affected by potential noise, flickering shadows and strobe effect' caused by the mast, as well as concerns about the impact on local birdlife.

Demonstrators blocked traffic into the Eden Project in a protest against plans for a giant wind turbine. The 127m (416ft) machine would be put on the northern side of the Eden site, near St Austell in Cornwall, if Restormel Borough Council approves it. Protesters, who called off the demonstration after about an hour, clashed with visitors and police. Environmental charity Eden said the turbine would have to be large to be economical and to power the site.

Four giant wind turbines planned for the heart of Northumberland will create landscape features visible from the coastline to the Simonside Hills, protesters claim. ...Now dozens of local people have set up a protest group to fight the Todd Hill scheme, which would be within 900 metres of homes in the isolated hamlets of Pigdon, Abshields and Benridge.