Opponents to a proposed wind farm on fell land near Coniston Water are this week rallying support to challenge a fresh planning application.

As the Gazette went to press yesterday (Thursday), Lowick Parish Council and the Campaign against Wind Turbines on Lowick Common were meeting to prevent the installation of two turbines which they believe would create a blot on the landscape.

Campaigners are reacting to two planning applications submitted to South Lakeland District Council this month by Gloucester-based firm Ecotricty.

Its sister company Next Generation has already lost a planning appeal to put one 'E66' 65-metre turbine with 70-metre blades on Lowick Common in 2001.

SLDC and later the appeal planning inspector ruled that the turbine, which would have dwarfed those on nearby Kirkby Moor, would have created an unacceptable visual impact on the landscape.

A proposal from landowners Jim and Yvonne Miller in 1995 for three 35-metre turbines was also thrown-out following a planning inquiry for the same reasons.

The latest applications from Ecotricity propose two different schemes for either two 'E66' turbines or two smaller 'E40s' with 40-meter blades on 65-metre masts.

However, SLDC's head of development control Peter Ridgway has yet to decide whether the council should even consider the planning applications.

Mr Ridgway said he should decide today (Friday) if one or both of the plans " forwarded the debated" and were substantially different from schemes the council had refused twice before.

Meanwhile, major plans are already being progressed along the North West coastline to develop off-shore wind generation.

Five windfarms are planned north of Liverpool including one off Walney Island and another on Robin Rigg, a shallow sandbank in the Solway Firth which will be clearly visible from Whitehaven.

Some 60 130-metre tall turbines are proposed along Robin Rigg with masts located 9.5km off the West Cumbrian coast.

The farm would be capable of supplying 160,000 homes, the equivalent of 75 per cent of Cumbrian households.