MICHAEL HOWARD, the Tory leader, is to announce tomorrow that the Conservatives will rein in the government’s controversial expansion of wind farms if they win the next general election.

The Tories believe many wind farms are being sited in areas where they blight the landscape and unnecessarily enrage locals, such is the government’s enthusiasm for alternative sources of electricity.

Grassroots protests against wind farms have been growing in recent months and energy experts are questioning whether building thousands more wind turbines is the best way to increase production of power from renewable sources.

Tim Yeo, the shadow environment secretary, said: “We share many of the concerns over the way the government’s renewables policy seems to be skewed very heavily in favour of wind farms.”

Yeo said that while the Conservatives back green energy and would stick to the government’s target of producing 10% of energy from renewable sources by 2010, the focus on wind power meant that other potentially useful “green” sources of power were being neglected.

“We would like to see the targets achieved, but relying on onshore wind power seems an unbalanced approach,” he said. “We also share many of the concerns that have been expressed about the environmental impact of onshore wind farms. By their nature they are going to be situated in very visible spots.”

Howard and Yeo will announce the Tories’ desire to check onshore wind-farm expansion tomorrow. It is expected they will focus on proposals to change the planning system, which the government is reviewing with the aim of making it easier to erect wind turbines.

Howard has been involved in a local campaign to prevent the erection of wind turbines on Romney Marsh in Kent.

The Conservatives, Yeo said, will make it harder for central government to over-rule local people if they object to the erection of wind turbines near their homes.

Recently David Bellamy, the conservationist, emerged as a leading campaigner against wind farms, arguing they make coastlines “ugly” and are harmful to birds. Other campaigners believe, however, that the impact of turbines on rural views is a price worth paying as the global warming threat grows.

Jonathon Porritt, the pro-wind farm former director of Friends of the Earth who now reports to Tony Blair as chairman of the sustainable development commission, believes insensitive planning has allowed an anti-turbine lobby to form, which is endangering the development of green energy sources. Robin Oakley, an energy campaigner with Greenpeace, said: “Wind farms are the best option at the moment, they can be done on a big scale and they are the cheapest.

“Global warming, climate change and the impact it will bring is very much the biggest threat we are facing. Unless we take action to tackle it now, we face very grim consequences.”

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