A WIND farm furore looks set to blow up in the Ribble Valley.

A new company which has a registered office in Blackburn, is seeking permission to set up wind-speed monitoring equipment on Longridge Fell. If the project proves to be economically viable, wind turbines could be erected on the fell to supply the national grid.

But the wind farm scheme in the Ribble Valley's Forest of Bowland Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty has already blown up a storm.

Residents living around the fell have written to Ribble Valley Borough Council to protest. One neighbour has launched a poster campaign calling for support to stop the project. But the agent acting for Lynborne Ltd, who have a registered address in Strawberry Bank, Blackburn, has said the storm is brewing prematurely.

Mr Andy Ashworth, from the firm of chartered architects Ashworth Burke Partnership, of Clitheroe, said: "The company is simply seeking permission to erect a mast up there which will be a base for wind-speed and direction-measuring equipment.

"This will be in place for a period of 12 months."

"It could be that the monitoring period shows that the fell is not an ideal place for a wind farm."

The land in question is almost at the top of the fell above Moor Game Hall Farm, Dutton. The landowner, who does not wish to be named, is simply renting his land for the erection of the mast and is not involved in the company which could eventually site the wind farm there.

Mr Don McKay, the Forest of Bowland officer for the county council, said: "This first application is only for a temporary monitoring mast and, in cases where companies wish to undertake trials such as this, permission is usually given."

The planning application for the wind measuring equipment will be discussed by members of the planning committee at a future meeting.

Converted for the new archive on 14 July 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.