Forewarned is forearmed according to one action group which is urging South Lakeland residents to be ready to lobby against a series of proposed wind farms.

FELLS - Friends of Eden, Lakeland and Lunesdale Scenery - held a public meeting this week to highlight the potential "threat" of new developments.

Committee member and Kirkby Lonsdale Civic Society chairman Mike Hall said wind farm developers were focusing on the belt of land between the Lake District and Yorkshire Dales National Parks, either to create new sites or expand existing ones.

"There's every reason to be concerned," he told a gathering of more than 70 residents at Kirkby Lonsdale's Institute on Monday.

He warned that changes to planning regulations meant that Government could directly approve large wind farm developments without recourse to a public inquiry.

But he questioned the efficiency of wind farms and claimed they would impact on horse riding, walking, property values and tourism as well as the Lake District's bid for World Heritage status.

Mr Hall called instead for more investment in alternative energy-saving schemes.

FELLS committee member Shaun Laidler said potential developments under consideration included a farm at Whinash of 41 turbines, each 105-metres in height, by West Coast Energy Ltd.

He said: "It would take 50 Whinash wind farms to produce as much electricity as one conventional power station some of the time."

Other proposals are for Whinfell and Firbank Fell, he said, but admitted that no official applications had actually been made.

Mr Laidler stressed the "crucial" importance of residents writing to their local council, MP and newspaper about such applications when they arose, saying inspectors were "impressed not by the detail of the letters they see but by the quantity.

It is crucially important to write."

Chairman Tim Kimber stressed that FELLS was not anti-wind farm, rather its aim was to protect the local scenery, particularly "from uninformed decision".

Dave Brierley, from Marton, Askham and Ireleth Windfarm Action Group (MAIWAG), who fought against the wind farm at Ireleth, near Ulverston, gave an account of living in the shadow of the turbines, and said: "We believe if our experience is any yardstick you would be better fighting these applications from the outset."