Gale-force planning headaches

Michael Wild Politics Editor North East and Cumbria

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The blending of natural countryside and windmills is a contentious issue

Love them or loath them, windmills are increasingly becoming a part of the British countryside. But the complex issues that are entwined with their development are creating gale-force headaches for planners... we see which way the wind blows.

Planners make some pretty big decisions.

But few come bigger than giving the go-ahead to giant wind turbines standing up to 125 metres tall in some of the north's most remote and beautiful landscape.

Get it wrong and the landscape can be permanently damaged.

Get it right - and you've secured a vital source of energy for the future.

There are already 35 wind farms up and turning in the North East and Cumbria - with another 29 in the planning process.

That is potentially several hundred more turbines towering into the sky.

Some councils - like Berwick and Tynedale - have a clutch of applications on the table.

But are they really the right people to make the decision?

Engineering maintenance is a precarious job

Critics think not.

Mass applications

They argue that the sheer weight of applications is threatening to overwhelm the planning process and the Northumbrian landscape.

Each application has its own history, they say, and many are from different energy companies.

Is it possible that piecemeal decision-making may not be the best way of dealing with them?

Moorsyde Wind Farm Action Group (Mag) in Northumberland takes that view.

They're opposing a scheme to build 10 turbines, up to 110 metres tall, at a site south west of Berwick.

Mag claims that the turbines - which would generate enough electricity for over 12,000 homes - would damage views of the area, therefore hitting tourism and the local economy.

The group is also against plans for wind farms at other sites in the Berwick area, including Barmoor, Toft Hill, and Wandylaw.

Many argue that the stark contrast is beautiful

And it is angry that plans for at least two wind farms - perhaps three - may be decided at just one planning meeting of Berwick Council on 29 May.

No debate time

Opponents argue this does not allow enough time for proper debate during the meeting, and want a public inquiry into how many wind farms there should be across the North East region as a whole.

Public inquiries are held - but only for the larger schemes like Winash in Cumbria where inspectors recently turned down a plan for 27 turbines.

But the opponents have not got it all their own way.

Wind farm enthusiasts in the Berwick area have come together to form "We Want a Windfarm @ Moorsyde".

It claims that because of global warming, there will be no landscape left as we know it unless we embrace renewable energy, including wind farms.

Local decisions

They can take up an eerie presence

Having a few wind farms on your doorstep, its members say, is a small price to pay for saving the planet.

And who better to decide than local councillors living locally?

We'll be talking to both sides, and examining whether the existing planning process is up to dealing with such complex issues that have an impact right across the region - and we'll be live at East Woodburn, a community which is itself wrestling with these issues.

Also this weekend: the third of our pre-election reports looks at Labour and the threat posed by independents in Tony Blair's backyard of Sedgefield.

That's all on the Politics Show on Sunday 29 April 2007 at 12:00 BST - with Richard Moss...

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