CAMPAIGNERS are celebrating the withdrawal of plans for wind turbines to be installed near Alsmliffe Crag.

Huddersfield based company DC21 applied two years ago for permission to put up two 48 metre turbines on land 1.8km north west of the landmark, near Rigton High Moor.

The proposed site was on Green Belt land up to 68 metres higher than the Crag itself - leading the Save the Dales group to warn that the resulting turbines would 'tower over' the popular climbing spot.

The application was submitted in April, 2015 and attracted about 450 letters of objection. including one from the Harewood Estate which said the development would spoilt Harewood House's celebrated view of the crag.

Gerry Smith from Save the Dales said: "The Almscliffe turbine application has been hanging over the heads of both local residents and those who highly appreciate and dearly love this beautiful area for nearly two years.

"It is therefore of great relief that the applicant has finally accepted that this audacious plan cannot succeed; one would have hoped they would have realised that a very long time ago.

"The strength of public feeling against these turbines in such a grossly inappropriate location was immense."

He also hailed the decision's wider significance, following as it does the refusal of other wind farm schemes in the area.

He said: "The withdrawal of this planning application hopefully represents the final close of the horrific threat facing this area since 2012, when it had been planned to create the largest onshore wind farm in England.

"Not including the smaller Almscliffe turbines, as large as they were to be, the existing eight-turbine Knabs Ridge wind farm would have been joined by a further 34 turbines of between 110 and 126 metres - a total of 42 commercial

turbines that would have devastated not just here but much of the adjoining Nidderdale Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty and Washburn Valley.

"All these plans have, one by one, been defeated - not in the least through the considerable strength of public feeling against them.

"It has been a long and hard battle but deservedly won in the end."

For more details of the campaign's opposition to previous wind schemes visit savethedales.co.uk .