Wiltshire County Council has voted through controversial new proposals, which if enforced would effectively ban new wind farms from the county.
According to local media reports, the Conservative-led council last week approved restrictions that would require turbines that are more than 25m high to be built more than 1km away from any residential property, while larger turbines with a height of more than 150m would have to be located more than 3km from any home.
Conservative councils insisted the restrictions are necessary to counter safety risks posed by the small possibility of turbine blades breaking.
However, if followed the recommended distances are so large that much of the county’s land would be unavailable to wind farm developers.
The vote represents the second time in the past month that a county council has approved tough new planning restrictions for wind farms, after Lincolnshire County Council backed planning guidance that recommends all wind farms within six miles of a village comprising more than 10 homes should be blocked.