By James Johnson

Last updated at 14:01, Friday, 16 November 2012

An anti-windfarm campaigner believes more co-operation is yielding better results after three single-turbine applications were turned down.

The applications for turbines at Boltongate, Clea Mire and High Harrington were all refused and Marion Fitzgerald, chairwoman of Friends of Rural Cumbria’s Environment (FORCE) thinks it is a sign the pendulum is beginning to swing in the other direction.

Allerdale council planners recommended that plans for all three turbines be refused.

Anti-turbine protesters argued that the Boltongate turbine would have ruined the setting of the historic All Saints Church and impacted on a number of nearby homes.

Mrs Fitzgerald said: “We’re bringing together a lot of groups to fit different applications and to support each other.

“The meeting was very heartening and the cumulative impact of these turbines was talked about a lot.

“It’s taken two years for planners to refuse three applications so that was unprecedented.”

The three turbine applications were for a turbine at Clea Mire, Westward, Wigton, a 61m turbine at Boltongate and a 79.6m turbine at Charity Lane, High Harrington. There was also a wind energy application that involved a meteorological mast at Brackenridge, Maryport, as a similar mast already exists nearby.

There have now been more than 100 applications or screening opinion requests in Allerdale during 2012.

Campaigners will meet again on Thursday, November 29 at Rosley Village Hall.

First published at 13:59, Friday, 16 November 2012
Published by http://www.cumberlandnews.co.uk