RWE npower renewables has lodged a planning application with Ryedale District Council for a massive ten-turbine wind farm on the Yorkshire Wolds, above Heslerton and Sherburn.

This application is undergoing consultation and I’ve been monitoring responses – for and against – as they are displayed on the council’s website. Until recently, most have been genuine letters written from the heart and based on knowledge of the issues.

Now I learn that a commercial lobbying group called Yes2Wind has apparently been employed by the developer and is working to secure signatures on concocted “letters of support”.

Yes2Wind is using the internet to direct supporters of wind power across the UK to support the scheme via the council’s website.

As a result, a large percentage of this scheme’s apparent ‘supporters’ live many miles away or are just generic supporters of wind power and the Government’s misguided policy for this industry.

Yes2Wind is closely associated with Pendragon Public Relations, which specialises in representing energy companies. You can see as much on its website.

I have reported the matter to the council and sought its assurance that this aspect of the consultation process will be treated with caution.

Paul Stephens, Heslerton Wind Farm Action Group, Moor Farm, West Heslerton, Malton.