Residents are gearing up to fight a wind farm development that they claim will change the face of the countryside, writes Michaela Robinson-Tate.

A group of local people has organised a public meeting next week to highlight their fears about the proposals for wind turbines at Whinash, an area of unspoilt fell between Bretherdale and Borrowdale, near Tebay and Orton.

They claim that the proposal will be an "environmental disaster", and say that 40 two-megawatt turbines, each more than 100 metres tall, or 75 per cent of the height of Blackpool Tower, would be constructed.

However, the company behind the scheme says it is far too early to speculate on the details.

Sir Martin Holdgate is to be the principal speaker at the public meeting. A professional ecologist and environmental scientist,

Sir Martin was deputy secretary and chief environment scientist in the Department of the Environment.

Sir Martin said the residents understood both the importance of reducing the country's dependence on fossil fuels, and the government's commitment to producing ten per cent of the UK's energy from renewable sources by 2010.

However, he had two main objections to the proposals. The first was that the landscape that would be affected had been identified since the 1940s as being of conservation area status, which was the equivalent of Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty Status today.

"We are dealing with an area that since the end of the Second World War has been accepted by the various official bodies, including the Countryside Agency, as having outstanding importance as landscape."

Sir Martin said that an overall strategy was needed to decide where

the turbines should be situated.

He said the piecemeal approach of developers and landowners applying for schemes that were then opposed by local people was not acceptable.

Planning director at West Coast Energy Stephen Salt confirmed their sister company, the Mold-based Renewable Development Company, was developing a number of renewable energy projects across the UK.

The company had put up a 50-metre met mast on the site at Whinash to measure wind speed and direction, and enable their experts to assess the potential for developing a windfarm.

"At the moment we

are undertaking environ-mental studies on the land to learn the ecology and archaeology and landscape implications of a windfarm on the fells, but at the present time we have not formulated our detailed proposals.

"I'm conscious there are concerns locally about wind energy developments but we do have a government target to make ten per cent of our energy from renewable resources by 2010.

"When the scheme has been formulated in more detail we would be quite happy to talk to local groups and explain our proposals."

Mr Salt said the land was owned by the Lowther Trust and they would be seeking to enter into an agreement with the landowner if the scheme went ahead.

l The meeting is to take place in Orton Village Hall on Tuesday, April 15, at 7.30pm.

April 11, 2003 09:30