But with the lands he once controlled now in the hands of a trust and managed by Jim, his son, the earl has no power to stop the development and can only look on “aghast” as plans are drawn up to plant 27 giant turbines across the rolling Whinash Fells.

The battle at Whinash, subject of a planning inquiry expected to last another seven weeks, is just one of many wind farm wars being fought around Britain.

At the heart of them all is one central issue: whether Britain should be preserving its landscape or saving the world from global warming. Is the loss of some of our most beautiful views a reasonable price to pay for the renewable energy that could tackle climate change? That question has split Britain’s environmental movement, pitching pro-turbine groups such as Friends of the Earth (FoE) and Greenpeace against the National Trust and Council for National Parks, who say the landscape must come first.

Over the argument looms a bigger issue: where is Britain going to get its energy from for the next century? By 2020 almost all our ageing nuclear power stations, supplying 22% of the nation’s electricity, will have to close. The same applies to coal-fired power stations. Their inability to meet European Union emission standards will see most forced to shut within a decade, slashing generation capacity by another 25%.

Britain, say the experts, has just a few years to work out where it is going to get its energy from before the lights start going out.

AT FIRST sight the furore over wind turbines is surprising, considering their low numbers. Plans drawn up between the power industry and the government envisage just 3,500 machines on land with another 2,000 offshore.

Most will be built in remote areas. Northern Scotland and outlying islands like the Shetlands and Hebrides are the favourites, with upland areas of Wales and northern England.

Opponents argue, however, that, although low in number, turbines are so visible and their constant movement so distracting that just a few can ruin an entire landscape.

They can also kill birds. The Royal Society for the Protection of Birds, a supporter of green energy, is fiercely opposing plans for Britain’s biggest wind farm to date, which would see 230-plus turbines on the isle of Lewis in the Outer Hebrides.

Engineers see other problems. Michael Laughton, an electrical engineer and fellow of the Royal Academy of Engineering, an expert on electricity power systems, says the government must recognise the limitations of renewable energy. “The government envisages wind power taking over as nuclear plants were phased out but that could never happen,” he said. “The national grid could not cope with the unreliability of wind.”

His view is shared by David Anderson, who chairs the energy board at the Institution of Civil Engineers. He calculates that even when they are all installed and running at full tilt, turbines could reduce Britain’s greenhouse gas emissions by a maximum of only 5%. “Wind power has a role to play but it can never become a substitute for large-scale generation of the kind we get from coal-fired and nuclear plants,” he said.

“The big question for Britain is not wind; it is how to secure the entire future of electricity supplies while minimising greenhouse gas emissions and all at a reasonable price.”

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