AN independent councillor yesterday resigned his position after a decision to allow a wind farm despite strong local opposition.

Councillor John Pickersgill yesterday resigned from Derwentside District Council minutes after its development control meeting passed plans for a 12-turbine wind farm by nine votes to two.

HJ Banks was granted permission for the wind farm on land between Satley, near Lanchester, and Tow Law, both in County Durham, in the face of fierce opposition from locals, who said the area was already crowded with turbines. HJ Banks said the 100-metre turbines will generate clean and renewable power for 13,400 homes in what is an £18m development.

The company had originally wanted to build 25 turbines, but scaled down the size of the farm, which will be near the A68, in the face of objections.

It said the turbines would be spread out in small clusters on the 300-hectare site.

The authority received more than 250 letters objecting to the plan, while surveys carried out among the scattered rural population by Satley Parish Council, Hedleyhope Parish Council and Cornsay Colliery Residents' Association found that three-quarters of those surveyed were against the proposal.

Protestors were heartened by the late intervention of the MoD, which raised concerns that the rotating blades of the turbines would interfere with air traffic radar at RAF Leeming, more than 50km away in North Yorkshire, and compromise flight safety.

However, councillors voted to approve the proposal, on condition that further talks were held with the MoD.

Voting for the application, Coun John Fothergill, whose Craghead ward contains two 100-metre turbines, said: "Power stations used to belch out fumes and muck -we do not want to go back to those days and we have to find a different way to do it. I believe in wind turbines."

However, Coun Pickersgill, who was barred from voting at the meeting because of views he expressed at a previous planning meeting were deemed prejudicial, said the decision was a disgrace.

Speaking moments after resigning the seat he has held for more than two years, he said: "I have a good reputation and I cannot allow myself to be tainted by this terrible decision. Today, confidence in local democracy has been undermined.

"The overwhelming majority of residents were opposed to this wind farm. Their concerns have been completely ignored."

Coun Pickersgill, who won the Cornsay seat from Labour in 2003 with a 263-vote majority, said he was considering whether to stand on an anti-wind farm platform in the subsequent by-election brought about by his resignation.