OPPONENTS of two wind-power projects in South East Cornwall are planning protest meetings next week.

Residents in St John, near Torpoint, are due to meet at the beginning of the week to discuss proposals by REG Windpower for the erection of three wind turbines on land on Mendennick Hill, overlooking the village.

And at Dobwalls opposition is mounting to the erection of a single turbine at Caduscott Farm, East Taphouse, where landowners Hugh and Lindsay Pendray propose installing a 100kw turbine measuring 47.1 metres, or 155ft, to the tip of its blades.

A campaign group, Rame Against Windfarms, has been set up to fight the Mendennick Hill plans and it is holding public meetings at St John Village Hall on Monday, February 4, from 5.30- 7.30pm, and at Millbrook Village Hall on Tuesday, February 5, between the same hours.

Members of RAW say they are not opposed to the principle of renewable energy but are extremely concerned about the potential detrimental impact that REG Windpower's 'industrial scale' wind turbines will have, not only on the nearby village of St John and the Freathy community, but also across the wider Rame Peninsula.

They say the overall height to the tip of the turbine blades will be 82m or 269ft, which means they will be almost twice the height of the three tower-block flats in Devonport.

'Rame Peninsula is an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty. Industrial scale wind turbines would be alien and incongruous in an area of such stunning landscape, and the massive visual effect of the structures will ruin the local environment and be harmful to the character and appearance of the Peninsula,' said a spokesman.

People living in the Dobwalls area are invited to a meeting in Dobwalls School on Wednesday, February 6, at 7.30pm where they will have a chance to learn more about the proposals for the turbine at Caduscott Farm, where permission was granted in 2011 for a 50kw solar farm.

Cornwall Council's consultation over the current proposal was due to end on Wednesday but local people have been assured this deadline will be extended as site notices have only just gone up and the public notice concerning the application was published in last week's Cornish Times.

Janise Philp, whose home is 700m away from the proposed turbine, challenges the application description of the proposed device as a 'small turbine' and says the Carbon Trust states that small scale wind turbines are up to 50kw, whereas the one planned for Caduscott is 100kw.

The British Wind Energy Association defines a small turbine as having a rotor diameter of a maximum 16m while Caduscott will be 20m.

She said there was concern that many people living within sight and sound of it were at present unaware of what was planned and that the meeting would be an opportunity for them to learn more.

Janise points out that while the possible effect upon tourism has often been used by objectors fighting other turbine applications, Caduscott is not located within any designated landscape areas but will affect ordinary people and council tax payers.