The Ministry of Defence has objected to at least four planned windfarms in the past year over fears the spinning blades could cause “unacceptable interference” with radars used to detect military aircraft.
MoD officials raised concerns in late June over plans for an onshore windfarm in County Durham that could result in aircraft “not being detected” within an RAF Low Flying Area, according to a letter to Britain’s planning authority.
The objection to the planned Hope Moor project, which could see 23 turbines built to heights of 200m, is understood to be the latest of at least four objections made against a planned windfarm on national security grounds in the last year.
The complaint risks putting the MoD on a collision course with the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero (DESNZ), which ended a decade-long block on onshore wind developments in England when Labour came to power in 2024 after it was put in place by the Conservatives almost 10 years earlier.
The government aims to double the UK’s onshore wind power capacity by 2030, and has designated Hope Moor a nationally significant project whose fate will be decided upon by the energy secretary.
The MoD has also warned against plans to build an onshore windfarm of six turbines at Burton Agnes, near Driffield in the East Yorkshire Wolds, and of the “unmanageable” risk of building a 13-turbine windfarm near the Scottish borders.
Meanwhile, plans for a far larger offshore windfarm in the Irish Sea have also raised concern within the ministry on the grounds that the proposed 87-turbine array could interfere with aviation radar systems at the Warton Aerodrome base in Lancashire, on the west coast of the UK.
The MoD has a long history of objecting to windfarm developments, but industry sources note that the precautionary concerns do not usually rule out development. The “well-trodden path to the negotiating table” usually leads to minor adjustments to the size or height of the turbines, which means they can move ahead, they said.
However, the ministry’s “routine” interventions are often used by those opposed to windfarms to support their campaigns, the sources added.
Hope Moor is one of four windfarms under fire from the “Not One Moor” campaign, led by former England cricketer Lord Botham. Others include the Scout Moor windfarm in Lancashire, the Walshaw Moor windfarm in West Yorkshire and Ray Fell windfarm in Northumberland.
Angus Thompson, a Conservative councillor in North Yorkshire, said: “The MoD’s stark warning is the nail in the coffin for this scheme … This hopeless project should be abandoned without delay.”
Alexandre Davies, the head of aviation at trade group Renewable UK, said the industry “works closely” to find solutions to radar issues, “and has done so for many years” to “deliver projects faster”.
A DESNZ spokesperson said: “We work closely with the Ministry of Defence. All onshore wind projects are subject to a rigorous planning process in which defence and security, the views of the local community and impacts on the environment are considered.”
The MoD was approached for comment.
