Plans to create England's largest wind farm in Cumbria have been rejected by the Government. The £55 million development would have seen 27 turbines, each 377 feet tall, erected at Whinash near Kendal and would have occupied a 9 hectare area. This would have resulted in 67 megawatts of electricity being generated. However, a six week public inquiry heard from high profile environmental campaigners like David Bellamy and Melvyn Bragg, who said the project would destroy the landscape of the lake district. Energy Minister Malcolm Wicks agreed that the plan should be thrown out, and said that although "tackling global warming is critical, we must also nurture the immediate environment and wildlife and on this occasion, the impact on the landscape and recreation would outweigh the benefits in terms of reducing carbon emissions."
The results of this inquiry are likely to cause a rethink of the development of wind power in remote, windy parts of the country with a high landscape value.
