By Linzi Watson

Last updated at 13:07, Thursday, 09 July 2009

More than 200 protest posters against proposals for a windfarm in Cumwhinton, near Carlisle, have been uprooted and vandalised.

The signs, put up by an action group against plans for three turbines at Newlands Farm, which is close to junction 42 of the M6, were removed from lamp posts and gardens in the village overnight on Tuesday.

Some signs showing pictures of the village dwarfed by turbines were mounted on six-foot-high posts which have been pulled from the ground. Painted signs have also been vandalised.

Alison Stamper of Cringles Farm, who is the chairwoman of action group Against Newlands Wind Farm, said this would not stop their campaign.

One of the proposed 377ft turbines would stand just 413 metres from her Grade II listed home.

She said: “I am furious. We are being denied our right to have our say on the matter.

“We are talking about around 200 signs which have been cut down all across the village.

“Some of them were on posts and inside gardens.

“To think that someone has thought about where they were going to go, waited until night-time when no one was around and gone into gardens with scissors and paint is quite sinister.

“Some of the signs are made of corrugated plastic and the posts have been lifted out of the ground. A lot of work has gone into this.

“We are also taking about money and many hours work that went into putting up these signs. It is so underhand and childish.”

Mrs Stamper has a sign at the front of her house which reads www.againstnewlandswindfarm.co.uk and the word ‘against’ has now been blanked out with paint. A nearby barn has been painted with the words “No No No Wind farm” and this was changed to “Big Yes To Wind farm”.

Objections have grown since the proposals were first announced last year and Mrs Stamper said she thinks around 98 per cent of the village are against the windfarm.

A public inquiry into the windfarm is to be held in October.

The plans by Bolsterstone Innovative Energy were thrown out by city councillors in October after a planning application brought more than 1,300 objections, while 242 people wrote in support.

Councillors also rejected a planning application for a 60m meteorological mast that would have been in place for three years to assess the site’s suitability.

Both of these applications are currently under appeal.

First published at 11:26, Thursday, 09 July 2009
Published by http://www.newsandstar.co.uk