CAMPAIGNERS are celebrating a victory for people power today after plans to build a windfarm on the hills above Bacup were rejected.

Councillors in Rossendale have ruled that Renewable Energy Systems Ltd cannot build a nine-turbine windfarm at Hogshead Law Hill, Bacup.

And more than 40 campaigners packed into Rawtenstall Town Hall's tiny council chamber for the news they had longed to hear.

The St Alban's-based energy firm had said that the nine 45m high turbines with a maximum rotor diameter of 54m would have generated enough power for almost 6,000 homes in Bacup.

But protestors said the windfarm would ruin the town's skyline and endanger the rare peat bog and wildlife on the moors. And councillors threw out the application on the grounds that it would have a detrimental effect on the landscape.

Jean Johnson of the Residents' Against Windfarms group said: "This is fantastic news. The report that the council officers prepared on this planning application was excellent and it addressed every issue we were concerned with.

"But we know this isn't the end as Renewable Energy Systems have already said they are going to appeal, but we will fight them all the way."

There are other windfarm planning applications in the pipeline just a few miles away from Bacup in Calderdale, Rochdale and Hebden Bridge.

And the Bacup protestors are going to return the support they received from the campaigners in those areas.

Mrs Johnson said: "This isn't the end, this is just the start of a long slog. These other applications are just two or three miles away from Bacup and will affect our area as well.

"But apart from that, these windfarms don't create that much electricity. They are not a solution to global warming, they are just a diversion.

"I am very concerned about this and I think that we as a country and as a world should be looking at more effective ways to reduce global warming such as energy waste reduction instead of messing about with windfarms."

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