Ed Miliband’s refusal to impose height limit means turbines could stand 850ft tall

Giant wind turbines taller than London’s Gherkin building are to be built across Britain’s countryside after Ed Miliband rejected calls to impose a height limit.

The Energy Secretary’s decision means turbines as high as 850ft can be built on hills and fields – far taller than the London skyscraper, which stands at 591ft. The Telegraph has the story.

Mr Miliband has lifted the previous government’s ban on all onshore wind in the English countryside, announcing plans to give himself the final decision-making power on applications in an attempt to hit net zero targets.

A spokesman for the Energy Department also made clear last week that there will be no height restrictions imposed on new turbines, opening the way for massive models being developed by Chinese and other manufacturers to be erected around the UK. 

He said: “There are no national limits on turbine height in the UK.”

The spokesman added that “landscape and visual impacts must be measured and taken into account”.

It comes after the first approvals were granted for next-generation models in Scotland, where – along with Wales – the Tory ban on building never applied.

OnPath, formerly known as Banks Renewables, was granted permission for 10 machines up to 823ft tall at New Cumnock in East Ayrshire, despite opposition from locals and the campaign group Scotland Against Spin (SAS) which has called for height limits.

Scottish government data shows planning applications for four similar schemes have been submitted, with at least 20 more at pre-planning stages. All are for turbines over 720ft high with around half exceeding 800ft.

Aileen Jackson of SAS, who lives in one of Scotland’s “turbine belts” in East Renfrewshire, said: “Our greenbelt has been carpeted with wind turbines. Where the new housing estates end, the turbines begin, multiple turbines of every size. 

“The peace and tranquillity of the countryside no longer exists. It is a mass of constantly rotating blades of different sizes creating a visual confusion and worse they all have different sounds.”

Wales is experiencing similar surges in applications for giant turbines. The largest proposed so far, by Bute Energy at Y Bryn, 12 miles north west of Cardiff, would be taller than the hills on which they would be built.

Read the full story here.