A cool wind

Three years on, little has changed. The key difference is that people in Yorkshire will now have a chance to make up their own mind.

If there is a wide take-up of a Government scheme which offers households up to 1,500 a year for installing turbines or solar panels on their roofs, then the region's landscape and energy mix will be transformed.

Many, however, are likely to be cautious about this still unproven technology.

The fact that so many wind farms ground to a virtual standstill during the New Year cold snap underlines why great swathes of the public are as yet unpersuaded of the merits of turbines.

Yorkshire people know the technology could bring jobs here but they may well be concerned about Britain becoming overly-reliant on wind power, which cannot guarantee security of supply, as well as how the mass installation of turbines impacts upon the green lands of God's own county.

The Government is right to consider alternative energy sources. The dwindling supply of coal means Britain will have to wean itself off its addiction to the black stuff, which is shown by the plans to build another round of nuclear power stations.

Ministers have a vision of communities banding together to install turbines. This remains a long way off. Time, and a development of the science, will tell if enthusiasts are simply blowing in the wind.