A CONTROVERSIAL plan to build nine 105 metre wind turbines in North Dorset looks set to be refused amid "overwhelming opposition".

Months of concern that Winterborne Zelston will be spoilt if planners give Your Energy Ltd the go-ahead look set to reach a climax as council officers recommend the planning application be refused at a special meeting at Blandford School later this month. More than 1,000 signatures were put to petitions opposing the application and hundreds of residents have written to protest. MPs Oliver Letwin and Robert Walter have also joined the campaign.

Concerns raised within an agenda to go before councillors include impact on the Winterborne Zelston conservation area, noise nuisance, safety hazards and a devastating effect on tourism in the area. Some say offshore projects would be preferred.

Among the formal bodies objecting are the bulk of local parish councils, East Dorset District Council, the Ramblers Association and English Nature say they're concerned about the impact on Anderson Manor - a grade one listed building.

The application is to build the wind turbine generators, an anemometry mast and sub-station on parts of Tomson, Riverside and Bushes farms around one kilometre north west of the village.

Your Energy Ltd is highlighting the government's commitment to securing 10 per cent of the country's energy needs from renewable sources by 2010 and says the turbines would generate electricity to 10,300 households and reduce reliance on fossil fuels.

It says the turbines would not infringe on any sites of nature conservation interest and that archaeologically significant features will be left in situ. It says noise levels would only be unacceptable for two properties and that the company would keep disruption to public rights of way to a minimum.

Defending its application in a council agenda to be considered at the meeting on October 26, the applicant said it had carried out extensive impact assessment and, though the wind farm would become a defining characteristic of the landscape in the immediate vicinity, beyond localised areas the land form and vegetation mean it would be difficult to see.

And it has received received backing from Blandford Town Council which is keen to promote renewable energy.

Planners at NDDC are recommending councillors refuse the application on the grounds that the size of the turbines would adversely affect the landscape, scenic beauty and historic landscape due to nearness to listed buildings. And they have raised concerns it would be harmful to the radar at RN Portland - proving detrimental to the safety of aircraft.

Planners concluded: "It has not been satisfactorily demonstrated that alternative sites do not exist elsewhere in the county which are more suitable."

Activists against turbines in rural England are expected to attend the meeting.

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First published: Oct 1