The Peak District National Park Authority (PDNPA) has urged the refusal of a major wind farm within 1.5 miles (2.4km) of its boundary, arguing that better renewable energy solutions should be pursued for sensitive landscapes than wind farms.

The Authority's planning committee unanimously recommended that an appeal by Derbyshire Wind Energy Ltd over its proposed wind farm on Matlock and Middle Moors should be refused by the Secretary of State. The wind farm would have five turbines, with blade-tips up to 126m (413ft) high. The PDNPA says this would make them among the highest in England and visible from most vantage points in the national park up to 20 miles (32.2km) away.

The committee said that the wind farm's harm to the national park landscape would heavily outweigh its contribution to the region's renewable energy targets, adding that it would also affect the enjoyment of remote, wild areas which national parks were set up to protect, as well as threatening conservation and the local economy by deterring tourism. Planning committee chair Cllr Hilda Gaddum said: "We and other English national park authorities very much support the drive for renewable energy, and are committed to making a positive contribution to national and regional targets.

"However, we believe there is much greater scope for alternative solutions, such as micro hydro-power in national parks with abundant water sources like ours, which would be less harmful than wind farms to our precious landscapes." The Authority, together with Derbyshire Dales District Council and High Peak Borough Council, has just published a Peak Sub-Region Climate Change Study which identifies the potential for renewables and low-carbon technologies in sensitive landscape areas.

In addition, through its Sustainable Development Fund, it has helped finance a detailed study of potential sites for micro-hydro power schemes by the Friends of the Peak District. It has also produced a Climate Change Action Plan to co-ordinate actions by all the local authorities, environmental and community organisations in the national park.

Picture courtesy of www.thepeakdistrict.info