After a six month pre-Assembly election moratorium on development, as many as 22 applications for new windfarms are now pending in Powys and anti-windfarm activists are organising themselves to oppose them. Famous TV naturalist Professor David Bellamy visited Mid Wales to give his support to anti-windfarm campaigners in Powys this weekend.

SOME people call them windfarms, others describe them as ‘power stations in inappropriate locations', but all agree that one alternative energy source is an issue dividing communities in Northumberland. Alastair Gilmour reports in the first of five features this week looking at the controversial windfarm issue.

Conservation and environmental pressure groups have banded together to fight against proposed changes in the planning laws. They say the reforms will take away the right to protest against major new developments such as nuclear power stations and airport extensions.

ONE of the country’s leading authorities on renewable energy called yesterday for countryside wind farms to be abandoned as a viable power source for Northumberland. John Constable, director of policy and research at the Renewable Energy Foundation, said there were a range of better options for the county than the 71 turbines planned around Alnwick and Berwick.

The world is blinding itself to the reality of its energy problems, ignoring the scale of growth in demand from developing countries and placing too much faith in renewable sources of power, according to two leaders of the global energy industry. The chief executive of Royal Dutch Shell today calls for a "reality check". Writing in The Times, Jeroen van der Veer takes issue with the widespread public opinion that green energy can replace fossil fuels.

The row has become public because a review of the renewable energy proposals began yesterday, giving all parties the final chance to lobby for changes to Mr Livingstone's plan. The debate centres on his wish for buildings to generate their own power through solar, wind and other renewables, and the developers' preferred plans to reduce energy usage. Developers insist that energy savings on new offices will be better achieved by efficient design, sharing excess heat with residential developments and increased use of automated systems to turn off lights and computers when not in use. They claim that wind turbines and solar panels are highly inefficient in the capital.

Farmers and landowners should be aware that changes in the way green electricity will be funded mean there is currently strong demand for wind farm sites. The current system, that beefs up the income from onshore wind farm sites by up to 50%, is due to be changed in 2010 or soon after to favour offshore wind farms as they are considered more acceptable to the public rather than on shore ones. "Wind farm companies are going hell for leather to find onshore sites and agree terms with landowners during 2007," notes head of Fisher German's renewables team Mark Newton. "It's a lengthy planning process to get a site approved which normally takes three to five years, and they need to get a project agreed and built before the system changes. Otherwise the site will not be as profitable for the landowner and the wind farm company."

ONE of Scotland's ageing nuclear reactors had to be shut down manually over the weekend, the latest in a catalogue of problems which prompted experts last night to warn of a possible looming gap in energy supplies.

London's main electricity supplier EDF Energy has given its strongest commitment yet to finance, build and operate new nuclear power stations in the UK and ditch its dirty coal installations as part of a major commitment to climate change. EDF, the UK arm of the giant Electricité de France which runs a host of nuclear power stations across the Channel, admitted it will have to go nuclear in the UK if it is to meet ambitious targets set today of cutting its carbon dioxide emissions in the UK by 60% over the next dozen years.

Welsh energy policy has been strongly criticised by leading environmental campaigner George Monbiot. Monbiot said he was not singling out Wales, as the UK as a whole was behind in the fight against global warming. But at the Hay Festival he urged an end to windfarms on land and said a Severn Barrage would cause too much damage.

The Government has admitted it is likely to miss its own targets for renewable power generation. Problems with incentives to energy generators, planning curbs and difficulties connecting renewable power to the national grid mean Britain will not be getting 20pc of national energy consumption from renewables by 2020. The energy white paper yesterday restated the Government's commitment to promoting wind and tidal power to cut Britain's carbon emissions and increase security of supply. But, although renewables' contribution to total electricity generation has more than doubled since 2002, the Government admitted that alternative energy still represents only 4pc of electricity generation.

The Government was last night accused of "tipping the scales" against local decision-making after paving the way for new wind farms and nuclear power stations. The claims came as ministers made it clear they want new nuclear plants and more renewable energy - including from wind - to maintain affordable electricity supplies in a more unstable world while cutting harmful carbon emissions. In the North-East, there are concerns about an expansion of wind turbines in Northumberland while Friends of the Earth claimed another reactor could be built at Hartlepool's existing nuclear plant in the future.

Britain has had three national policies in ten years. And it still hasn't made up its mind about nuclear energy

As we predicted yesterday, the Government's White Paper on plans to "streamline" the planning system were received with angry protests by countryside and wildlife groups who fear that existing safeguards against large-scale developments in rural areas are to be stripped away.

A new generation of nuclear power stations was signalled by the Government today as it unveiled plans to provide Britain with "clean" energy for the future. Tony Blair put the Government on a collision course with green groups as he confirmed that the Energy White Paper would herald a fresh consultation on nuclear power. He said new plants would make Britain less reliant on foreign gas and oil, while providing a carbon dioxide-free source of energy that could help tackle climate change.

Green campaigners have condemned ministers for "steamrollering" objections to major new schemes for nuclear power stations, airport runways, motorways, waste incinerators and even wind farms. Friends of the Earth led green groups in attacking a White Paper unveiled by Ruth Kelly, the Secretary of State for Communities, which will amount to the biggest shake-up of planning rules in a generation. It proposes replacing lengthy and costly public planning inquiries with an independent commission.

Twenty four wind turbines that are nearly as big as Blackpool Tower could be built on the moors between Hyndburn and Rossendale. Details of the massive development have been announced after a meeting of developers with the local councils. Project manager for EnergieKontor UK Ltd Judith Cornfield said the company thinks there is the potential to build turbines with a height of up to 130 metres, to the blade tip. They are looking at a large area between Haslingden Road and Grane Road, near Oswaldtwistle and haslingden.

Huge new wind farms could be built in the North-East with residents losing any "meaningful" role in the planning process. Critics fear local communities in areas like Northumberland and County Durham could be shut out of the process after the Government announced it will set the national planning strategy for major infrastructure projects - handing over the final decision on whether schemes go-ahead to an unelected commission. Large-scale wind farms, motorways, power stations, airports and incinerators will be included in the new national framework covering the next 10 to 25 years. An independent panel of experts - including planners, lawyers and environmentalists - will determine major schemes.

LONDON (Reuters) - The government will underline its support for nuclear power on Wednesday as it sets out plans for a major policy shake-up to secure energy supplies and fight global warming. Britain's oil and gas from the North Sea are dwindling and it well remembers how Russia, which supplies 40 percent of Europe's gas, disrupted supplies last year. It also wants to meet its carbon emission cut targets. "We are now faced with countries such as Russia who are prepared to use their energy resources as an instrument of policy," Prime Minister Tony Blair wrote in The Times.

Communities and local government secretary Ruth Kelly has said that the aim of today's planning white paper was to make to the planning system less complex and more accessible for everyone.