The decision comes nearly two years after the former Berwick Borough Council initially rejected the proposal for seven turbines, each 110m tall, on land between Shoresdean and Felkington.

Mike Maud, chairman of the Moorsyde Action Group, said: "We are, of course, both delighted and relieved by the Secretary of State's decision.

"The planning inspector's report which advised his decision was emphatic in its advice. This entirely validates what this group has been saying about the Moorsyde scheme and the behaviour of its developer for the last five-and-a-half years."

However, Your Energy expressed disappointment that the need for renewable energy was still not being recognised at the highest levels of Government.

"We are disappointed with the decision," admitted Richard Mardon, managing director of Your Energy.

"Our proposal was in a designated area for wind farm development, and we hold the view that the environmental benefits of the project would outweigh any negative impacts.

"The region has a poor record for installing renewable energy, and the planning inspector noted it has not met its renewable energy targets for 2010.

"The message is loud and clear - we urgently need a mix of renewable technologies installed across the UK to reduce our environmental impact and ensure our security of supply, but some of us aren't listening."
Your Energy has given no indication of whether it plans to take its appeal to the High Court.

In his conclusions, the secretary of state recognised the need for and the wider benefits of wind energy developments and noted the very substantial shortfall between Northumberland's targets for wind energy development and its predicted installed capacity for 2010.
However, he considered that in respect of the Moorsyde wind farm the development would be 'seriously harmful to the principal views of the Cheviots' and also that there was 'significant potential for noise limits to be breached and that these two factors were sufficiently significant to weigh against the wider benefits of wind energy development.

The secretary of state also considered that 'residents would experience material harm to their visual amenity but not to the extent that living conditions would become intolerable.'

Moorsyde Action Group have also expressed anger that the proposal reached this stage and say serious questions must now be asked to ensure there is no repeat.

"This proposal could, and should, have been stopped years ago," said Mr Maud.

"Local communities have been let down by the system and by individuals within it.

"For reasons that are sometimes hard to explain, those involved, with the honourable exception of our former local councillors, failed to recognise, or chose to ignore the glaringly obvious.

"We always knew that if the application was professionally and objectively examined and the gross errors, distortions and deceptions of the developer were exposed, there could only be one possible outcome."

In particular, he is appalled that officers twice recommended approval of the scheme to councillors at the former Berwick Borough Council.

In a letter to the newspaper (see Postbag, p6), he states that although the council's planning department was 'in crisis' throughout the determination period there could be no excuse for the 'gross lack of professionalism' that was displayed both by public servants and consultants.

Mr Maud added: "This deeply flawed application has resulted in huge costs both to the public purse and to individuals in the local community. We are left with the pressing and unwelcome task of raising yet more money to clear outstanding debts.

"Nor is this the end of the story, we are now faced with an equally unsuitable application for eight even larger turbines on a site that directly adjoins the 'Moorsyde' site.

"We hope that lessons have now been learned and the new planning authority will move swiftly to ensure there is no repeat of past failings," he said.