WIND farms across Rossendale will be up for debate when a Green Party leader visits the Valley.

Sustainability guru and Green Party leader Professor John Whitelegg will visit the Valley to publicly debate one of the most controversial environmental issues facing Rossendale - hill-top wind farms.

A proposal is to build 26 giant turbines on Scout Moor between Edenfield and Whitworth was blocked by Rossendale Council which decided not to support the £50million project. A public inquiry will now be held, probably later this year.

That has prompted the campaigners to raise money to help defeat the development.

John Whitelegg, who is widely tipped to become the region's first ever Green Euro MP in the European elections in June, is a professor of sustainable transport at Liverpool John Moores University and Professor of sustainable development at York University's Stockholm Institute of the Environment.

He added: "We should be aiming to get a wind turbine on top of every suitable rooftop - schools, hospitals and houses in England by 2020. That alone would go a long way to meeting the government's targets.

"It's ridiculous for the government to present renewable energy as a two-way choice between hill-top eyesores or fossil fuels.

"I intend to demonstrate that we can preserve Rossendale's beauty and limit climate change."

Professor Whitelegg will be chairing the debate 'Does Rossendale Need Wind Farms?' at Longholme Methodist Hall, Bacup Road, Rawtenstall, at 7.30pm on Tuesday.