THE man behind plans to build wind turbines on land between Coleshill and Watchfield today pledged to push ahead, despite facing opposition from residents.

Farmer Adam Twine has already got planning permission for five wind turbines but has recently submitted another appli- cation for amendments which would increase the blade length of the turbines by five metres.

He held a public meeting last week to discuss the issue with the local community.

But residents who met at a packed village hall in Watchfield eventually voted against the amendments in a show of hands, although the majority against was small, making it a close call.

Nevertheless, this hasn't deterred Mr Twine.

He said: "It should not be forgotten that I already have planning permission.

"The new application is simply to add an extra five metres to the blade length and I don't think that will make much of a difference."

A newly formed comm- ittee group called VECS, which stands for Vale Environmental Concerns, is worried about the environmental impact of the turbines.

It wants to know why this was not assessed before planning permission was originally granted in 1999.

VECS is in favour of renewable energy and not opposed, in principle, to wind power. However, it feels that this particular project is inappropriate to the locality, out of scale with its surroundings, and damaging to various residential, amenity and conservation interests.

David North is part of VECS and lives at Castle Farm, just 500 metres from the proposed site.

He said: "Government Minister John Battle stressed that wind turbine projects must be acceptable to local communities.

"Wind generators are expected to demonstrate high standards of environ- mental performance. Unless generators can convince communities that projects will be developed in a way which is sensitive to their concerns, they will not be able to build.

"VECS does not believe that this proposal is capable of fulfilling this aim but, anyway, how can this be achieved without an Environmental Impact Assessment?"

A final decision will be made when the plans go before the committee at the Vale of White Horse District Council in January.