A TORY-CONTROLLED county council is to become the first in Britain to try to block wind farms from being built in its area.
The move by Lincolnshire county council, which has one of the country’s biggest Conservative majorities, is the first open rebellion against the government’s renewable energy policy by a local authority.
This week it will issue guidance to district councils in the county stating: “There is a presumption against wind turbine developments on the grounds of negative cumulative visual impact.”
The move follows a county-wide outcry over Lincolnshire’s eight existing wind farms, and plans for at least 16 new ones. These have prompted protest groups to spring up across the county.
A key fear is that industrialising the historic landscape will drive away the tourists on which the county’s economy largely depends.
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However, it also reflects a groundswell against the visual impact of wind farms across much of rural Britain. Last week residents in Norfolk, also Tory-controlled, won a landmark court ruling against a wind farm development near Hemsby, on the edge of the Norfolk Broads.
A High Court judge ruled that the right to preserve the landscape was more important than the government’s renewable energy targets.
Martin Hill, Conservative leader of Lincolnshire county council for the past seven years and a party member for 35 years, said Tory ministers had lost touch with the party’s grass roots over the issue.
He said: “There is no understanding among ministers. There is a quiet anger building up among local people and local parties. A few MPs are beginning to realise this but ministers need to get real.
“The damage done to our countryside by turbines will be a big issue at the party conference this autumn.”
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Hill’s tough guidelines, which have cross-party support, will affect planning decisions made by district councils, of which there are seven in Lincolnshire. Although those councils are responsible for planning, they are obliged to consult the county council and take its policies into account.
Under the guidelines, wind farms would have to be sited at least six miles from any village comprising more than 10 homes or from any historic church. They would also have to be at least six miles from any Ordnance Survey “view point” and from any existing wind farm.
They would also be banned from the Lincolnshire Wolds, a designated area of outstanding natural beauty and disallowed anywhere near a historic garden, park, battlefield or conservation area.
Hill said the overall aim was to make such developments harder. “We support the idea of renewable energy but we have more than our fair share of wind farms already. Enough is enough and we do not want the country despoiled further.”
Robert Norris of RenewableUK, which represents the wind industry, said a blanket ban was “anti-democratic”.
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“Each proposal should be examined on a case-by-case basis. When that debate takes place, the benefits of wind energy should be considered too,” he said.