S everal of the broadsheets have recently carried articles on the professional view that wind farms in the UK are not cost-effective but are being built regardless of surrounding landscapes, due to large subsidies.

This makes one realise that this may well be the case in point, at the planned wind farms at East and West Huntspill. Any traveller who has taken the A39 from junction 23 of the M5 will have followed an ancient pilgrims' route. The excellent view of Glastonbury Tor to your right is complimented by turning through 180 degrees, enjoying a view of the Vale of Avalon and the Levels, Brent Knoll, as ancient and mythical as the Tor, and the Welsh coast in the distance. If they have their way, wind farm developers will blight this, for at least the next 30 years, not for proven gains ecologically or sustainability, but for pure financial gain in their own investment.

The protests about the planned Farms are not about nimby attitudes, but a genuine ground-swell of feeling from people of all walks of life and background – locals or newcomers. All anyone wants is development to go hand in hand with a gain for rural communities and the countryside as a whole, without destroying habitats and ancient vistas, and not done for pure financial investment gain by greedy subsidised developers.

Roger Birt, Highbridge.