Objectors have pledged to "vigorously oppose" the planned £75 million 20turbine Davidstow community wind farm plan - despite major changes to the scheme aimed at appeasing protestors.Community Windpower Ltd says it has now redesigned the wind farm proposals planned for Davidstow Woods as a result of earlier consultation with the community. ..."Our initial reaction is that these revisions would reduce neither the proliferation of wind turbines in North Cornwall, nor the adverse effect which these huge machines would have on the local landscape and wildlife."

A PUBLIC meeting has been called to discuss controversial proposals to erect 13 wind turbines across a swathe of Fenland countryside. Peterborough City Council planning chiefs are currently assessing applications for two separate schemes on neighbouring strips of land abutting the Cambridgeshire border. ...Mr Potts said: "We respectfully ask that any application for wind turbines is taken after the findings of Defra's investigation. We do not want the Fens to become a dumping ground for these inefficient systems."

Any hope Canadian Hydro Developers Inc. might have had for an early start to the Melancthon II wind farm project appears to have been effectively dashed by a decision of the Ontario Municipal Board. OMB member Norman Jackson has generally decided conditionally in favour of the Melancthon II wind turbines planned for Amaranth Township, but has withheld his order pending a resolution of noise complaints at the transformer substation ...Beyond noise from the transformers, Mr. Jackson wants a continuation of the hearing at some point prior to issuing his order. The outstanding issues to be dealt with at that time include construction drawings, de-icing measures, a decommissioning agreement and an amenities agreement. ...Although the order has been withheld, the township during the hearings appeared fully in agreement with site-specific OP amendments for 22 turbines.

After generating huge interest across Berwickshire and beyond, a controversial planning application has been rejected by Scottish Borders Council after it was decided that it contravened key council policies. Meeting on Monday, the Council's Development and Building Control Committee, decided to follow the recommendation of planning officials and unanimously put a halt to the plans to have a windfarm on Coldingham Moor. Since it was originally lodged last year, the application has sparked a vast difference in opinion, gathering responses on a local, national and even international level.

State regulators unanimously approved a proposal Wednesday to build New England's largest wind farm on a remote ridgeline in northern Washington County. ...Stetson Mountain is located in a sparsely populated area of Washington County's northernmost border with Penobscot County and Canada. It's a scenic area with rolling, heavily forested hills that help support the local timber industry. Hunting, fishing, snowmobiling and other forms of outdoor recreation are also an important part of both local culture and the regional economy. So UPC's proposal to build 38 wind turbines, each standing nearly 400 feet tall, has not gone over well with everyone. ...Opponents also raised concerns about noise from the turbines, which has been a problem for some homeowners near the Mars Hill farm.

...a 350-foot wind turbine may be too much of a good thing for Mountain Hill Road residents. ...The planning board made its decision Monday night, despite stiff opposition from neighborhood residents who packed town hall to protest the plan. ‘‘It's not that we're against wind energy, but the drop zone for one of the turbines would be within 85 to 200 feet of our neighbors,'' Mountain Hill Road resident William Gould said. ‘‘These things are monstrous, and they are right on top of our neighborhood. The impact would be devastating. ‘‘The bylaw says five acres and wind is enough for a turbine. If this is approved, what neighborhood is next?''

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. "

COUDERSPORT — Potter County Planning Commission members took steps to regulate the construction of wind turbines in the county Tuesday night during a lengthy meeting. After hearing arguments from supporters and critics of the wind energy industry, planning commission members passed an ordinance that would require that turbines be located a distance of at least seven times their height from adjacent properties.

There has been some opposition to large-scale wind projects in areas like Yarmouth County, where residents living near wind farms have complained about noise. To address that and other concerns, the province is partnering with the Union of Nova Scotia Municipalities on a call for proposals to do a $45,000 study to develop wind turbine bylaws and policies.

All along, Pictou County has said it is supportive of wind energy - it's written as much in the introduction its municipal planning strategy - but finding a compromise, one which will satisfy both the developer and anyone who lives near a wind energy installation, has been a fine line to walk. ...If successful, the municipality will be the second in northern Nova Scotia to enact bylaws to establish guidelines for wind energy. In May, Cumberland County established that 500 metres from a residence - or three times the height of a turbine was a compromise.

Two comments were made asking the planning board not to lower the minimum set-back requirements from one and a half times the tower's height. Cliff Newhart requested the minimum set-back standard increase. Newhart said he was citing the French Academy of Medicine when he addressed health concerns from low-frequency sounds. Rancich said he is concerned about the minimum set-back requirements from certain property lines and asked that the property line clause be struck from the law. The request met with quiet uproar from attendees at the meeting and the planning board did not act on his request.

"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".

Troy Nesbitt, a member of the Hamlin Preservation Group, agrees the committee was not given the chance to complete its task. "I think the supervisor, working on the advice of a landowner, urged the WTC to complete its task." Nesbitt said that he didn't feel the WTC's recommendations on setbacks from dwellings were strict enough. "They are recommending 2,640 feet. It should be more," he said. "Neighboring communities are doing due diligence when it comes to protecting the health, welfare and safety of its residents but it doesn't appear that Hamlin is doing that." ... Nesbitt said. "Our group isn't saying no to wind turbines, we just want all of the questions answered and we want what is in the best interest of the residents."

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."

CHILTON - Life near wind turbines is hell, a panel told about 500 at a forum Wednesday organized by residents worried that proposed wind farms would affect public health and property values. "The noise produced by turbines is intolerable," Kewaunee County homeowner Mike Washechek said. Washechek has lived about ¼ mile from a wind farm for the last seven years. "My wife thought the dryer was on and there was a tennis shoe in it."

Projects are picking up the most speed in Ontario, where the provincial government has embraced wind energy as a symbol of its green friendliness, and municipalities are signing on with a fervour because the province's above-market prices mean they can reap cash in land sales and tax revenues. But as Canada experiences a rapid rise in these developments, there is a growing opposition to wind power as a clean energy alternative, with complaints that it is high-cost, energy-inefficient, causes noise pollution and even wreaks havoc on birds' migratory patterns. After raising many of these concerns with the Ontario Municipal Board, residents of Wolfe Island, Ont., celebrated a victory this week when plans for an 86-turbine megaproject by Canadian Hydro Developers, Inc. was modified to place the turbines farther away from residential areas and wetlands.

"We don't want anything that stands in the way of the effective uptake of wind energy, but when you choose the wrong place and are not sensitive to local concerns it's a real mistake," May said. "Shorelines, where people have a lot of cottages, are not a good place. I haven't gone and measured it myself, but the Pugwash beach is very much up against the 500-metre limit and that's an unreasonably close spot." While the Green Party supports wind energy as a renewable energy source, May said the party also stands for grassroots decision-making.

CHILTON - A public information meeting on life near wind turbines will be held at 7 p.m. on Wednesday, Aug. 1 at the Engler Auditorium at Chilton High School in Chilton. The event, which is hosted by Calumet County Citizens for Responsible Energy, is free and open to the public. Dr. Nina Pierpont, a pediatrician, will speak on the "wind turbine syndrome" and the health effects of wind turbines on humans. Dr. Richard Bolton, a physicist and president of the Environmental Compliance Alliance, will talk about the environmental impact of wind turbine noise on humans and wildlife.

Opposition is growing to giant wind turbines as the novelty of being paid for wind wears off. In St. Joseph, south of Winnipeg, a concerned citizens group is protesting a proposal by Bowark Energy Ltd. of Calgary to install 63 wind turbines across a 13-kilometre stretch of arable land. In Elie, just west of Winnipeg, some residents are demanding a study on long-term costs of a wind turbine proposal by Sequoia Energy. Applications for the next wave of wind turbines in Manitoba closed Tuesday. The province and Manitoba Hydro will approve three of about 30 proposals submitted. Complaints about wind power systems include noise, loss of property value, and a perception that the turbines are eyesores junking up the uninterrupted prairie horizon people are used to.