Government departments responsible for the increase in onshore wind turbines are using staff from energy companies to advise them on noise and safety issues. Concerns have been raised that the potential conflict of interest, denied by the civil servants, could result in the Government making policy decisions which directly benefit turbine manufacturers and energy companies. Guidance on noise issues was sent to planning inspectors as a result of Government meetings which in one case were chaired by a representative of RWE npower.

Worried villagers living in the shadow of a proposed five-turbine wind farm near Dunton Bassett say they are determined to fight the plans. Broadview Energy was this week granted permission to build a 60m temporary data-gathering mast on land at Low Spinney Farm - and plans for the scheme are likely to be submitted in the winter. The scheme is the latest in a rash of such plans. Already in the pipeline is an 11-turbine scheme at Swinford, a single turbine at North Kilworth, and plans for several large wind farms in the Harborough area.

Plans for 10 wind turbines six times the height of the Angel of the North which would be seen by thousands of motorists each day will be unveiled to the public next week. ...Peter Wood, chairman of Bishopton Parish Council and Parishes Against Wind Turbines, said people in the area have had enough. "What you are looking at is an area which is concentrated and will be blighted with these machines," he said.

Pylons are on the march. Britain's electricity transmission and distribution companies are to announce plans for a £10 billion rewiring of Britain. A report due this autumn will warn that if Britain is serious about a low-carbon economy then it must string potentially thousands of miles of new high-voltage power cables across the country. The infrastructure is vital, experts say, because most renewable energy will be generated in remote areas such as northern Scotland or the North Sea - whereas most consumers live in southern Britain.

Her family suffered severe sleep deprivation and were forced to move out to a rented house in Spalding. She said: "This result is excellent for everybody who has had their lives devastated by noise, both audible and low frequency, from wind farms. "I think it's a very fair result and the tribunal was well aware it was being asked to make a national precedent. "This is one battle won but there's still the rest of the war to go."

A couple have won their fight to lower the council tax banding on their property, which dropped in value after wind turbines were built nearby. Julian and Jane Davis, along with their daughter Emily, had to endure endless sleepless nights after a wind farm, with turbines 100 metres high, was built less than 900 metres away from their home. In May 2007, the family abandoned their Deeping St Nicholas home and rented a property in Spalding five miles away. However, the house became un-sellable because of the problems created by the turbines.

Celebrity chef Peter Russell-Clarke says the small community of Tooborac is being torn apart by plans for a 70-turbine wind farm. Mr Russell-Clarke, 73, who moved to the town of 300 near Lancefield two years ago, said locals were divided over the plan by Transfield Services. Mr Russell-Clarke, also an accomplished painter, said he had shelved plans for a community art studio in the town due to the plans. ...Northern Victoria Liberal MP Donna Petrovich, who met concerned residents last Thursday, slammed the Government's "jackboot approach" to local planning.

A couple who say their home has been blighted by noise from a wind farm have won a 20% reduction in council tax because the house's value has dropped. ...Although investigators sent by the Lincolnshire Valuation Tribunal to measure noise levels did not find any problems, the panel conceded the construction of the windfarm "had had a significant detrimental effect on the appellants' quiet enjoyment of their properties. "The tribunal therefore found that the nuisance caused by the wind farm was real and not imagined and it would have had some effect upon the potential sale price of the appeal dwellings."

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.”

Thousands of homeowners may see the value of their properties plummet after a court ruled that living near a wind farm decreases house prices. In a landmark case, Jane Davis was told she will get a discount on her council tax because her £170,000 home had been rendered worthless by a turbine 1,000 yards away. The ruling is effectively an official admission that wind farms, which are accused of spoiling countryside views and producing a deafening roar, have a negative effect on house prices.

Thousands of televisions have been blacked out - by a wind farm. Householders are missing their favourite programmes because the farm's giant turbines are blocking the signal to their TVs. The blackout has hit viewers in East Kilbride. And ScottishPower yesterday admitted their £150million wind farm at Whitelee, on Eaglesham Moor, is causing the problems. It is stopping signals from the transmitter in Darvel, Ayrshire.

Residents campaigning against a planning application for three wind turbines have presented a petition to the local authority. Eileen and David Watson, and Tanya and Paul Davies, all residents of Earthcott Green, have presented a petition of more than 350 signatures, campaigning against an application to build three wind turbines in their village. ...The angry residents presented the petition to Matthew Riddle, South Gloucestershire Council's executive member for community care and housing, on Monday morning.

Families in a picturesque conservation village fear they are facing the prospect of two wind farms being developed near their peaceful rural community. People in Longhirst near Morpeth say they are horrified at the possibility of 15 giant turbines - each measuring 130 metres from base to blade tip - going up on nearby farmland. ..."A lot of people will be going to the public exhibitions, but I guess the majority will be absolutely horrified that we are faced with two wind farms and possibly 15 giant turbines.

At a lively meeting in which the Princes contingent were often heckled and saw one couple walk out, objections centred around increased noise and health and safety issues. Paul Jackson, general manager of the Princes plant, said the turbine would reduce the firm's energy costs. He said: "We need to be as competitive as we can in what can be a very aggressive and competitive market.

The fight to stop a wind farm coming to our area is gathering strength, after a key meeting in Ironstone Road on Monday night. Around 160 people piled through the doors of the Ironstone Road scout hut on June 30 to air their views on the contentious issue, which would see a cluster of 250ft wind turbines erected on the Bleakhouse site, between Burntwood and Heath Hayes. And a poll among those 160 people showed that just four were in favour of the wind farm application ...

An energy company has pulled out of plans to build a wind farm in Rhondda due to concerns over noise. E.On and community group Arts Factory wanted to build the eight-turbine wind farm between the Rhondda Fach and Fawr, near Ferndale. But E.On said it was worried that the project could potentially pose a "noise nuisance" to nearby homes. Arts Factory said it was looking for a new partner so that it could continue with the scheme.

People living in Earthcott Green protested over plans for the wind farm, off Old Gloucester Road, at Alveston Parish Council's planning meeting last night. They told parish councillors, who were discussing Stroud-based power firm Ecotricity's planning application to South Gloucestershire Council for the first time, that the wind turbines were "totally inappropriate" for the village.

A family forced to move home because of the noise generated by a nearby wind turbine have given evidence to the House of Lords. Jane and Julian Davis were plagued by sleepless nights when they lived close to the wind farm at Deeping St Nicholas and eventually moved out. They were recently told that their house was unmarketable and now live in Spalding. They documented their wind turbine nightmare and sent evidence to the House of Lords Economic Affairs Committee, which is investigating the economics of renewable energy.

Campaigners fighting plans to build five wind turbines almost as tall as Blackpool Tower in South Yorkshire have launched a protest group and won backing from a local MP. The group will oppose a planning application for five turbines - which would be Britain's biggest-ever at 410ft high each - at Sheephouse Heights, by the side of the Stocksbridge Bypass. ..."The addition of turbines would be visible from miles away and we believe, would have a drastically adverse impact on the visual amenity and landscape value of the area. "I believe they are so huge most people have difficulty imagining just how high and intrusive they will be.

More families will be driven into fuel poverty as a push to generate more electricity from "green" sources like wind, wave and solar power sharply increases household fuel bills, the Government has said. Electricity bills could rise by 13 per cent and gas prices could go up by as much as 37 per cent as consumers are made to pay more to subsidise green energy production, ministers said in a new Renewable Energy Strategy. ...The Renewable Energy Strategy says: "It is likely that the measures we need to use to increase renewable energy will add to the challenges we face in combating fuel poverty."