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.”

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.

Villagers today fear they are being besieged by wind farms as plans for more huge turbines have been announced. An energy company has revealed proposals to build up to seven giant turbines north of Roos, near Withernsea. The scheme, by Energiekontor, is the fourth earmarked for land around the small Holderness village.

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.

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."

A STUDY of noise generated by wind farms has found they can cause significant health problems, including stress, anxiety and depression.
Editor's Note: This article was published on August 7,2006

A controversial bid to build five wind turbines on the outskirts of Burnham-On-Sea was unanimously thrown out by district planners on Tuesday morning (August 8th).

A STUDY of noise generated by wind farms has found they can cause significant health problems, including stress, anxiety and depression.

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.

RESIDENTS have complained that the noise from a wind farm is keeping them awake.

“It was like the noise of a plane passing above the house but the noise never tailed off like a passing plane. It was permanent.

"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.

A Drefach-felindre Action Group has called on planning chiefs to turn down an application for three new turbines at Blaen Bowi windfarm.

People across Mid Wales are fighting against plans for massive wind farms which would see 300ft masts towering into the air, countryside bosses have warned.

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.

"'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."

The £1million wind turbine next to Whitemoor Prison is to be switched off at certain times of the year because 'shadow flicker' is upsetting inmates.

They introduced the world to "environmentally friendly" energy, but now some of Europe's "greenest" countries are under pressure to backtrack on wind farms as public anger grows over their impact on the countryside.

Plymouth GP Dr Amanda Harry has conducted her own survey on the effect of noise on people living near the Bears Down wind farm in Cornwall. Here, she reveals her findings.