A CAMPAIGN has been launched to fight plans to build two wind monitoring masts on farmland on the outskirts of Guisborough.

Angry residents are rallying together in reaction to an increasing number of applications being submitted to Redcar and Cleveland Borough Council in the east Cleveland area.

The council’s planning committee is due to hear an application from the two temporary masts near to Park Farm when it meets on Thursday (December 20) morning.

And members of a number of localised campaign groups are expected to protest outside the meeting in Belmont House, Guisborough, at 10am to oppose the latest scheme.

The proposal would see two 60-metre tubular steel masts erected – one to the north-east of the telecommunications mast at Park Farm and the second on land north west of the former depot site of Wilton Lane.

Stuart White, the chairman of Redcar and Cleveland District Group of the Campaign for the Protection of Rural England (CPRE), said: “If collective action is not taken now the legacy for future generations will be a concrete jungle of housing estates and industrial parks overshadowed by a wind turbine forest.

"Such action can be taken through the formation of local action groups or joining of CPRE. Members of this organisation are passionate about the countryside and do not wish to see it lost or destroyed.”

The application has attracted 97 letters or emails of objection with a wide variety of concerns raised including fears the plan will open to the door to more applications for windfarms; the masts would have a detrimental impact on the landscape; the mast is too close to the village of Stanghow and the proposal has potential noise issues.

The application has been recommended for approval by council officers.

A report to be put before members concludes: “The slender design of the mast and associated guys is considered to result in a form of development that will not have a significant impact upon the character and appearance of the landscape.”

In September the committee refused an application for a 90-metre high wind turbine near to Kilton Thorpe village in east Cleveland after concerns were raised by members that the scheme would have a negative impact on the local environment.