And in another developing twist in the wind farm story, another company announced yesterday (Tuesday) that it has now re-submitted plans for turbines at Pilling, after they were previously thrown out following local opposition.
Kirkland-based Dewlay this week won its appeal to build the £2.4 million turbine - which at 127 metres high will be almost as tall as Blackpool Tower.
The towering turbine, which will bring green power to the award-winning cheese company, is likely to be constructed and working by Spring 2010.
The go-ahead follows an appeal to the government after Wyre Council rejected the plans in December. More than 300 people had objected.
But appeal inspector Ruth MacKenzie believes the turbine could "become a symbol of the Fylde's identity, and something which residents and visitors would come to value and enjoy."
Dewlay and its backers, Wind Direct of Lancaster, welcomed the go-ahead. Work will begin later this year.
The firm's production director Richard Kenyon said: "We believe this is just one step that we can make towards reducing our carbon footprint and making a more sustainable business."
But the decision has prompted anger from opponents who fear it could open the way to more wind turbines in the flat, windy, Wyre countryside.
Coun David Sharples, former vice-chairman of Wyre planning committee, criticised the inspector's approach.
He said: "I am stunned and extremely concerned about the subjective way the inspector has made the decision. I fear it will open the door for similar applications in this area. There will be a lot of angry people."
In her decision letter Ms MacKenzie says: "Some would see it as an eyesore, others an interesting focal point. In my view it would be an exciting and elegant landmark symbolising the region's commitment to renewable energy."
She says the benefits outweigh concerns over visual impact.
She also points out there is a shortfall between the current projects and targets for renewable energy projects in the North West.
Ms MacKenzie says: "The proposed turbine would play a small but important role in meeting those targets. It would provide all the electricity needed by the cheese factory and any excess would be exported to the grid."
* SHORTLY after it became public knowledge that Dewlay had won its planning appeal, another company which had previously been refused permission for turbines near Pilling announced it was re-submitting its plans.
Cornwall Light and Power say its plans to resubmit its planning application for two wind turbines at Orchard End, near Eagland Hill, is not linked to the go-ahead for the Dewlay plans.
A company spokesman said: "The decision to re-submit was not affected by the outcome at Dewlay.
"There was a considerable amount of work to do in undertaking the further studies and surveys, so this was something Cornwall Light and Power committed to well in advance of the Dewlay approval.
"The technical details have not changed since the earlier application, rather Cornwall Light and Power has done further work to explain why the site is a good choice.
The resubmission follows Wyre Council's decision to refuse the company's earlier planning application in May 2008.
Part of the extra technical and research data includes further bird surveys which the company says have confirmed the suitability of the site.
The company says that its two planned wind turbines could generate up to 9,460 megawatt hours of clean, emissions-free electricity for residents and businesses in the Pilling area, enough to meet the consumption of approximately 2,000 households every year.
When the application was considered two years ago there was considerable opposition on environmental grounds, and concerns that the two turbines could harm the area's visiting bird population.
The government has a target for another six more large-scale solo tower turbines in the North West by 2010.
There are already several turbines in the region, including in Morecambe Bay and at Caton Moor.
Lancaster University last week applied to construct two 125-metre turbines close to its campus near Galgate.
The Green Party recently proposed the Fylde and Wyre areas should become home to scores of windfarms to meet future energy demands.

* For more on the Pilling turbine plan resubmission and reaction to the Dewlay appeal, see next week's Garstang Courier, out noon on May 6.


Background and reactions to the Dewlay decision:

From Dewlay
"This will make Dewlay the first cheesemaker in the UK to have an 80m high wind turbine, and comes in the wake of the UK dairy industry's efforts to increase the use of renewable energy and reduce carbon emissions.
"At Dewlay we hope that this will not only put the region on the map in a positive light, but also prompt other manufacturers nationwide to take their environmental responsibility to the next level," commented Nick Kenyon, operations director at Dewlay Cheesemakers.
"We believe this is just one step that we can make towards reducing our carbon footprint and making a more sustainable business," said Richard Kenyon, production director at Dewlay.
"We source all our milk from farms within five road miles of the dairy, employ staff from the local area, work closely with local supermarkets to cut down on food miles and have planted hundreds of trees and maintain green areas around the site. So as a company we are always looking at ways to protect the environment and support the local area," he added.
Not only that, but Dewlay is hoping to use this turbine as an educational resource for schoolchildren and students of all ages who have their whole lives ahead of them as energy consumers. Already featuring a museum and viewing gallery where local schools and colleges can partake in guided tours and learn more about the history of Lancashire cheesemaking.
"We currently provide out of the classroom support in the education of food manufacturing for school trips, and with students no doubt looking at different energy sources as part of their syllabus we are proud to have another educational offering here at Dewlay," says Nick.
The turbine also goes some way in helping to meet the Regional Spatial Strategy for the Northwest 2008's 'need to promote and encourage renewable energy'.


From Dairy UK, the industry's mouthpiece:
"This comes at a time when the dairy industry as a whole is looking at ways of being greener in order to cut down the sectors overall contribution to the UK's total greenhouse emissions, which currently stands at 2%; in part due to processing.
"Initiatives like this are a great example of ways in which the dairy sector can keep improving its environmental performance in order to meet ambitious green targets set out in the Milk Roadmap," said Fergus McReynolds, environment manger for Dairy UK.
"At Dairy UK we welcome Dewlay's project to build a wind turbine at their site, as by 2015 we aim for 10% of non-transport energy used by large processors in the sector to come from renewable sources, or combined heat and power systems," he added.

From Wind Direct:
Richard Barker, Wind Direct's development director said: "The turbine is hugely positive statement to Garstang for future generations, demonstrating the area's commitment to clean energy."
Nicola Mortimer of Wind Direct said: "The planning permission allows for a turbine with a maximum tip height of 127m. There are already several turbines installed in the UK at this height e.g. Corus Northumberland, and several projects which are in construction with larger turbines proposed such as Tees Wind North at 140m high.
"The tallest onshore wind turbines in the North West are the recently installed Nordex N90 (125m) at Royal Seaforth Docks Liverpool.
Wind Direct and Dew Lay would like to see the turbine installed prior to spring 2010, however this will depend on lead times for turbine procurement from wind turbine manufacturers.
* Wind Direct currently has over 25MW of projects that are built or have planning consent, and 20 projects in the public domain.

Dewlay background:
Other environmental initiatives being carried out by Dewlay Cheesemakers include the planting of hundreds of trees around the manufacturing site and maintaining green areas; sourcing milk from local farmers all within a five mile radius of the Dewlay dairy; the reusing of cleaning water at the end of the day during production wash down; recycling of packaging and introducing recyclable film for the packing of cheese.
Dewlay Cheesemakers is run and owned by the Kenyon family, with father Neil Kenyon at the helm as managing director and his two sons Nick and Richard as operations and production director respectively.
Founded in 1957 by Neil's father, Dewlay specialises in the manufacture of territorial cheeses, in particular Lancashire cheese, manufacturing 1500 tonnes of cheese a year. The company has also developed Garstang Blue and a Garstang Select range, which was created in tribute to the local town.