At a meeting on Tuesday, planning chiefs said the determined campaign by protestors from the Eakring Turbine Action Group and Bilsthorpe Residents Against Turbines played a key part in their decision. But it also emerged that objections from the Ministry of Defence (MOD) about a possible impact on radar services for civilian and military flights had been crucial in the decision to throw out the plans.

Plans for a wind farm in Nottinghamshire have been rejected. Developers wanted to install seven wind turbines measuring about 110ft (33.5m) high, near Eakring and Bilsthorpe. It was claimed they would provide green energy for hundreds of houses. But people living in the area said they would be a blot on the landscape. On Tuesday Newark and Sherwood Councillors unanimously rejected the scheme at a meeting attended by about 150 protesters.

Aircraft safety fears could make a drugs group drop a plan to use wind power to cut energy costs and help protect 165 jobs at its Northumberland factory. Bosses at Aesica Pharmaceuticals want to erect two wind turbines next to their plant in Cramlington in an effort to cut its £407,000-a-year electricity bill by about 40%.

Two of the 300ft turbines at a controversial wind farm to be built near Harrogate will have to carry aviation lights, planning councillors have overwhelmingly decided. Originally, there were no plans to erect warning lights on any of the eight turbines which will shortly make up the Knabs Ridge Wind Farm by Npower Renewables Ltd between Skipton Road and Penny Pot Lane at Felliscliffe. But when Npower sought planning permission to move two of the turbines because they would interfere with a British Telecom link across the site members of Harrogate Borough Council Planning voted to ensure warning lights would be erected by backing an amendment. They insisted a condition of planning must be that two turbines being re-sited would carry warning lights.

Vital maintenance work on Scroby Sands windfarm, off the Norfolk coast, has been interrupted after an accident involving the giant jack-up barge Sea Energy. While manoeuvring off the Yarmouth coast on Friday, one of the vessel’s huge legs, which provides a stable working platform by anchoring itself to the seabed, clipped a blade on one of the 30 turbines. Windfarm owner E.ON UK and the Health and Safety Executive immediately launched a full investigation into the incident that has put the turbine out of action. Company spokesman Jamee Majid said: “It was only a light touch but about 20cm was broken off the tip of the 40m blade.

Local residents will be given the opportunity to view proposals for a 12-turbine windfarm on the outskirts of Stonehaven this weekend. Renewable Energy Systems, the company behind plans for the scheme at Meikle Carewe, near Netherley, is holding a public exhibition in the town on Saturday. The firm announced last month that it was going to resubmit a planning application for a windfarm on the site, which lies four miles north of Stonehaven. An earlier application for a 10-turbine development was rejected by Aberdeenshire Council’s Kincardine and Mearns area committee in 2001 due to the possible interference with radar and TV and a perceived loss of amenity to area residents.

Plans to build 16 wind turbines across a historic bridleway could decimate a local stables business. Up to 120 horses and ponies use Three Shires Way at Nun Wood, near Lavendon, Bozeat and Harrold but, if approved, the 125m high turbines would surround the animals. Milton Keynes Council is currently listening to objections to Npower’s application, including the concerns of the family-run Lower Farm Stables, on Castle Road. There are fears that horse riders would no longer be able to use the bridleway as the noise and light disturbance from the 90m blades would create a potential safety hazard. The British Horse Society recommend that turbines should be no nearer than 375m from bridleways but at Nun Wood some would be as close as 215m.

According to chiefs at Cambridge Airport, wind farms can interfere with radar across a distance of up to 40 miles. The two feasible locations for the aerospace giant’s move away from Cambridge are Wyton and Mildenhall but wind farms are planned in the vicinity of both. David Buckley, airport director, highlighted the issue at the latest meeting of the Cambridge City Airport Consultative Committee.

FEARS over air safety have prompted council chiefs to refuse to back dozens of huge wind turbines planned for land between Doncaster and Lincolnshire. Campaigners have been fighting plans for the wind farms, which would litter the area between Thorne, near Doncaster, and Crowle with turbines 125 metres (410ft) tall. Among their fears are the visual impact such schemes would have. They say they would create a "ring of steel" around the protected and valuable Thorne and Hatfield moors site. Doncaster Council is expected to meet this week to debate a revised planning application for a number of the sites, including a controversial wind farm near Thorne.

A MASSIVE wind farm would cripple radar for Tornado jet fighters, defence chiefs say. The Ministry of Defence have lodged an objection to plans to build 13 giant turbines at Gathercauld in Fife. They say the 278ft turbines would block the line of sight from the control tower at nearby RAF Leuchars. And they claim the blades would slice through radar waves, disrupting communications and the plotting of aircraft. The objections are backed by environment groups and Lib Dem leader Sir Menzies Campbell.

THE Ministry of Defence has confirmed it is investigating a windfarm proposed in Ceres amid fears that it could interfere with RAF Leuchars air base. MoD officials are concerned that the 13-turbine windfarm planned for the outskirts of the village could affect crucial radar signals from the base and pose problems to low flying jets in poor weather.

Blyth Valley Council refused planning permission to enable Aesica Pharmaceuticals to install two wind turbines up to 140 metres high at its plant in Shotton Lane. Although several members of the council's development control panel felt the application was a positive step towards using renewable forms of energy, a vote concluded that the turbines would impact on radar systems in the flight path to and from Newcastle Airport.

An investigation into what caused a half-ton chunk of a wind turbine blade to snap off and crash into a field has dubbed a “manufacturing fault”. The verdict has caused concern among windfarm protesters, who have asked whether there may be faults in other turbines across the Westcountry - many of which are situated close to houses and roads.

BAE Systems has developed a bolt-on, two-chip radar signal processor that can negate the radar-confusing returns that wind turbines generate (Flight International, 11-17 July). The advanced digital tracker (ADT) does not interfere with the radar, but post-processes the signals before they are shown on the display, dismissing the clutter the turbines can create so "real" targets can be detected even close to large wind farms.

Air traffic surveillance can be severely degraded unless planners are required to consider aircraft safety

Campaigners have sent details of 273 accidents worldwide to the Department of Trade and Industry and the Health and Safety Executive.

Aberdeen Harbour Board are commissioning a study about the impact of a proposed windfarm on ship movements.

The MOD is working with the DTI, the British Wind Energy Association (BWEA) with support from National Air Traffic Services (NATS) and the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA), to test two technologies from BAE Systems and Selex S.I. to see if they resolve problems posed by wind turbines.

ICE forming on wind turbines can fly off, posing a potential danger to passing walkers in "exceptional" weather conditions, ScottishPower has admitted.

WASHINGTON, March 29 /PRNewswire/ -- The following is being issued by Alliance to Protect Nantucket Sound: