After much heated discussion the planning committee at Newark and Sherwood Council approved Nottingham's first wind farm. The application from NPower Renewables was for 5 turbines to be sited south of Mansfield, in Rainworth. These turbines will generate enough electricity for 5,000 homes.

The voting was 8 in favour and 3 against (with one Tory councillor declaring his preference to nuclear).

Presentations were made by the planning officer who recommended an approval and 2 local opposers. Supporters of the wind farm were not given the opportunity to present their case or speak. One of the local opposers used classic wind farm myths and even quoted statistics from The Daily Mail.

3,200 letters of support were handed in to Newark and Sherwood District Council and attempts were made to hand copies of the letters to Mansfield Council who said that they could not accept them as it wasn't a 'Mansfield planning issue' even though Mansfield councillors saw fit to vote against the application some time ago.

Let's hope that we can get another wind farm approved for Nottingham soon..............watch this space!