AN application to change planning permission for a wind farm on the outskirts of Darlington that has sparked opposition from local people is to be heard by councillors next week.

Developers Banks Renewables were granted planning permission for the six turbine Moor House wind farm, at Great Burdon, in October 2011, with a number of conditions attached about how the site should be built and maintained.

Banks Renewables has applied to remove condition 22, which concerns the prevention and monitoring of amplitude modulation (AM), a noise side effect of some wind farms.

The company claims that the planning condition is redundant because there is no legal definition of AM and how to prevent it, making it unenforceable and unreasonable, should AM occur.

A number of other planning conditions relating to noise will not be affected by the application.

The application will be considered by Darlington Borough Council’s planning committee on Wednesday, February 6, at 1.30pm, at the town hall.

A number of parish councils and villages surrounding the wind farm have objected to the application on the grounds that residents do not want to see the condition removed as it is seen as a form of protection against noise nuisance that may be caused by AM.

In a report prepared for councillors, planning officials have recommended that members allow the AM condition to be removed from the Moor House development on the grounds that planning inspectors have found against AM conditions in other cases around the UK.