Community turbine group welcomes wind energy push

Pete West, from Energy Local Bridport, said the Salway Ash scheme has been a success.

“We’ve got 50 householders that have been supplied for over five years now and none of them have left the scheme,” said Mr West.

“There’s a huge demand for local people to benefit from renewable energy and they are more likely to accept a wind turbine if they can be supplied with low-cost energy.”

The turbine was originally built by Peter Bailey on his farmland in 2012.

He said: “It makes more sense to generate locally — you have to find the right sort of places on the windy hillsides but it does work well and complements solar cells well.”

In the period before the de facto ban was introduced there was public opposition to some wind turbine plans such as the Church of England project to build six turbines in north and west Devon.