A COUPLE who run a family farm have defended their plans for a 36-metre wind turbine in open countryside, which have dismayed some local residents.

John and Karen Bowes are seeking approval for the turbine at Sheep Parks Farm, Coast Road, Baycliff - a 113-acre beef and sheep holding.

Mr and Mrs Bowes hope the turbine will help the farm stay 'viable' because their main income source - beef and sheep - is 'volatile' and has recently been 'low'. They told South Lakeland District Council that their profits were not covering living expenses they hoped to reduce costs by offsetting power bills and selling power back to the National Grid. They admitted the turbine was an 'emotive issue' for local residents and they had addressed concerns by applying for 'smaller' turbine than originally planned.

But objectors say this would still be unsightly and a threat to wildlife, particularly birds, as well as the limestone pavement.

Angela Hutchinson predicted it would 'cast a large shadow' over the beautiful villages of Baycliff and Aldingham while 91-year-old Elizabeth Nelson said it would be 'an alien structure' next to where she had lived all her life.

However, an ecological assessment accompanying the planning application described the limestone pavement as 'species-poor' and the turbine was unlikely to have a significant effect on bats, badgers, hedgehogs or brown hares, although potential for bird collisions could not be ruled out.

Mrs Bowes told The Westmorland Gazette: "We are both members of Cumbria Wildlife Trust. We would do nothing that we felt would have any major adverse impact on our local wildlife or birdlife.

"There are telegraph posts and electric wires crossing our land already and the wind turbine will not have much more of an impact than those. Looking out from the site of the wind turbine we can see wind turbines in all directions so this one will not have a detrimental effect on the landscape."