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.

NEIGHBOURS have reacted cautiously to plans for a giant 100-metre wind turbine that would change the Alderney skyline for generations to come. The structure - almost twice the height of Nelson's Column - would be less than 250 metres from residential streets and tower over family homes. ..."I don't see why it cannot be away from the site and the power carried in via cables. "One hundred metre windmills have no place in family neighbourhoods." Carol Dowland, whose Francis Avenue home borders the waterworks, said: "I'm quite in favour of green energy and if it will save money it must be a good idea. "But it all depends on whether or not it is an eyesore.

Wind turbines earmarked for the roof of two council buildings are an ineffective and expensive publicity stunt, according to residents. ...Ray Farrow, who runs renewable energy company Wind Power Energy, said the officers were using the wrong type of turbines which do not have the power to make a difference to the authority's carbon footprint. "I have spent some time looking through the proposed installation of wind turbines ...it is an expensive publicity stunt. "

A Devon council is calling on Energy Minister Malcolm Wicks to reverse a decision to allow a huge wind farm. Earlier this month Mr Wicks gave Devon Wind Power the go-ahead for a 22-turbine project at Fullabrook Down. ...Council leader Mike Harrison said the "landscape and people of North Devon have been sacrificed in the national interest". He added: "This is a classic example of the impact of centralised planning on a local community."

The meeting heard Prof Peter Cobbold use the name, Clwyd power station, to describe to more than 200 local residents what is in store for their countryside between now and 2010. He also talked about the changes in local scenery, which he believes will come about if the asssembly plans to generate electricity from wind turbines continues. ..."The significant thing is that not one word was voiced to support wind energy. "If they are so great, why did no one turn up to say so? Nobody wants them; everybody knows they won't close down a single 'dirty' power station; and yet they are foisted on us by an uncaring Government that refuses to listen to us."

A PLAN to put a wind turbine in the grounds of a rural school has run out of puff amid concerns it will create too much noise. ...Peter Evans, the council's director of public protection, has expressed doubts over the plan. He is concerned about the noise the turbine would make and the possible health effects. The council's planning committee has now delayed a decision for a site visit. In his report to the committee, Mr Evans said: "The background noise level at the school site is such that we believe the turbine will cause sleep disturbance to local residents during the night."

A CAMPAIGN group which aims to protect common land has hit out at plans to build up to 24 wind turbines in East Lancashire. The Open Spaces Society said the project, designed for the moors between Hyndburn and Rossendale, would be a "menace on the landscape". ...Because the site is common land the company will need special permission for the site. Kate Ashbrook from the conservation group said: "Haslingden is a wonderful oasis among the Lancashire towns. Here the public have the right to walk and ride over every square inch of the common. "The wind turbines with their associated paraphernalia would be a gross intrusion on the landscape and will be highly visible from the common and from further afield."

An energy company's bid to site two giant wind turbines on the outskirts of Lowestoft has been strongly opposed by the family which owns an historic 6,700-acre country estate nearby. ...The estate has employed the services of expert consultants The Landscape Partnership (TLP) to fight its corner and the report added: "In TLP's assessment, the proposed turbines would contrast with the character of the AONB and the sense of tranquillity and timelessness that is typical of the local area."

VILLAGERS battling to prevent a wind farm being built near their homes have received a boost after Boston's MP pledged his support for their cause. But Mark Simmonds left a meeting of the Sibsey Turbine Onshore Protest (STOP) group in no doubt as to the scale of the task ahead as members try to prevent the Needham Wind Farm project becoming a towering reality. ..."We would all support making a meaningful contribution to the reduction of greenhouse gases through increasing renewable energy, but in a flat Fenland landscape, with the sorts of wind speeds you get round here? "This is not the right place to put wind farms."

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.

"There is a real concern about a number of issues. Not least of which how the local roads in Shore could cope during the construction phase. These are expensive symbols without doing much to contribute to the nation's energy supply. They will destroy the South Pennine environment that we all benefit from. I welcome Paul's support who will take this debate about renewables further in Parliament."

The initial application was refused by the City of York Council and an appeal was refused by the Planning Inspectorate, because planners were unsure how much noise the turbine would generate. ..."I note the appellant's frustration with the perceived lack of council officer support for this scheme, ...However, such schemes should not be at the expense of detracting from neighbouring residents' enjoyment of their properties and in this case insufficient information has been provided to conclude that the proposal would not harm the living conditions of existing residential occupiers."

People living in a village near Greystoke want to stop an energy company building an £8m nine-turbine windfarm. Fourteen people have objected to a plan to build the 60m-high wind turbines at Berrier Hill which, it is claimed, would provide enough green electricity to power 12,581 homes. Residents plan to form a protest group and to leaflet nearby houses following a public consultation on the Berrier Hill Wind Energy Ltd scheme, which ended yesterday. They fear the windfarm - whose turbines would be taller than Big Ben - will impair views of and from the Lake District fells and reduce tourism. ..."No-one in their right mind would build turbines where they wouldn't produce a viable amount of electricity. There is no robust scientific base for these assertions."

"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 turbines emit a high pitched humming and a thudding sound when the blades pass the main shaft, a sound Clr Pardoe says resembles a Chinook helicopter. "They will be visually intrusive.

A couple forced from their home by noisy wind turbines are prepared to take their fight to the ombudsman. Jane and Julian Davis moved out of their farm near wind turbines in Deeping St Nicholas in May after months of sleepless nights caused by noise. And they believe there is no end in sight to the disruption to their lives because South Holland District Council has been dragging its heels investigating the case. Mrs Davis believes that the council has done nothing to look into the issues of noise at the site since last summer but instead left the investigation in the hands of operator Fenland Windfarms. She said: "We let them get on with it thinking they were doing something but it turns out they weren't. "Even in the full knowledge that we were driven out of our home they still did nothing. "I absolutely hit the roof when I found out."

The government has ruled out further research into wind turbine noise following the publication of a university report into the phenomenon. Salford University concluded the incidence of Aerodynamic Modulation, aerodynamic noise, (AM) from the UK's wind farm fleet is low. But its recommendation that more research might be "prudent" was rejected. Energy minister Malcolm Wicks said: "Where there are legitimate problems we will address them. But it is essential that we produce more wind power if we are to meet our climate change and security of supply aims."

CAMPAIGNERS against plans for a new wind farm between Bagthorpe, Barmer and Syderstone have been told of the horrific impact turbines can have on village life. A packed public meeting in Bircham Newton heard from a number of guest speakers who gave grave warnings about the health impact, noise disturbances and threat to wildlife which could stem from the five turbines earmarked for the villages. Included among the speakers was Jane Davis, of Deeping St Nicholas, Lincolnshire, who described the persistent noise problems she has faced from a wind farm near her home. She also spoke of how the value of her property has plummeted since the development was completed. Syderstone resident Reg Thompson, a member of the action group formed to oppose the plans, said: "People are very concerned about this. "There are moves being made in Europe to ban wind farms that are within two kilometres of housing and we hope that becomes legislation because every house in Syderstone falls within that radius. "People are very upset. We have seen housing deals fall through as people no longer want to move here.

In the North-east, the Skelmonae Windfarm Action Group was formed in Methlick earlier this year. Member Mervyn Newberry, 42, a sales manager in oil and gas, said: "These monstrosities inflict untold misery on local inhabitants with their high levels of noise, shadow flicker, ruination of natural landscape, devastation of wildlife habitat and loss of housing value."

A comprehensive study by Salford University has concluded that the noise phenomenon known as aerodynamic modulation (AM) is not an issue for the UK's wind farm fleet. AM indicates aerodynamic noise from wind turbines that is greater than the normal degree of regular fluctuation of blade swoosh. It is sometimes described as sounding like a distant train or distant piling operation. The Government commissioned work assessed 133 operational wind projects across Britain and found that although the occurrence of AM cannot be fully predicted, the incidence of it from operational turbines is low.