WE?were delighted to read the very welcome letter from Cllr Winship regarding her call for a policy to protect the Forest countryside from large wind turbines that she made a year ago.

Four hundred North Lydney residents petitioned the council two years before that to implement a policy that protected the landscape and agreed a minimum distance between turbines and homes, and were promised a working group would look at this. Nothing seems to have happened, while other local authorities have implemented measures to protect their heritage and householders.

Wind farm developers are keen to establish themselves in the Forest precisely because we have such an unprepared local authority. It is a desperately sad state of affairs that councillors are being asked to make decisions without clear local guidance.

The residents of North Lydney, Coleford and now Aylburton have been caused massive distress by aggressive marketing of industrial scale wind turbines. There are more planned for Woolaston, Tidenham and a return visit to North Lydney where the same farmer who was being offered large amounts of money to accept one is trying again.

There are more in the pipeline. The companies behind these proposals present them as 'community scale' and nothing if further from the truth. The initial proposal for St. Briavels grew from a 67 metre high turbine' then plans were 'resubmitted' for the structure to reach 74 metres into the air. All indications of how tall it actually is, are missing and one hopes the council have actually measured it. Size equates to profit and companies will push for the largest scale possible.

To aid this they present drawings and photographs that misrepresent the size and do not show comparisons that help people understand the impact. The Alvington Court turbine (another that grew in the planning process) is taller than Gloucester Cathedral.

Poor Lydney, with plans for a monster at North Lydney and more at the docks, looks surrounded.

The struggle that follows these planning applications is damaging to the community and genuine 'community scale' renewable energy projects. The companies are pushing the boundaries of acceptable distances to homes in the absence of government legislation. We are one of the few European Countries to have no legal framework of protection.

The most precious asset of the Forest is its landscape and it must be defended. In response to the Coleford turbine planning application councillors of all parties recognised the inappropriateness of the turbine and voted it out. Let us hope they continue to do so and the Cabinet can develop a policy that fends off applications and unwelcome interest from developers. Well done Cllr Winship.

– Joyce Waldegrave, Ned's Top Residents Action Group.