PARTS of the district are becoming “saturated” with wind turbines, councillors were told.

Bradford area planning panel refused permission for a 36-metre-high turbine on Soil Hill, off Brighouse and Denholme Road, near Denholme, and one of the reasons councillors gave was a new Government policy.

Communities and local government secretary, Greg Clark, stated in June that wind turbines should be refused planning permission by local authorities unless they have the support of local communities.

The Soil Hill turbine application had received a dozen letters of objection, as well as 17 of support.

At the panel meeting at City Hall, members were recommended to refuse the application by planning officers, who said the number of turbines installed in the area in recent years had changed the character of the landscape and made it look like a “poorly conceived wind farm”.

A similar application for a turbine on the site was refused last year, and the applicant Home Energy Efficiency has since appealed that decision to the Planning Inspectorate.

Planning officer Mark Hutchinson told members he had visited the area and said: “When I went to the site, I counted 17 turbines of different sizes and different types.

“It is clear the landscape has been affected by urbanising elements, and may well have reached capacity for this type of development.”

Councillor Richard Dunbar spoke against the application, saying: “The existing turbines are making the area saturated. A lot of people think the area is becoming a wind farm by stealth.

“This will affect people’s living conditions.”

Stuart Robertshaw, representing the applicant, said similar turbines in the area had been approved recently.