A SIX-YEAR battle about a proposed wind farm in a Sedgemoor village is over after the scheme was dropped this week.

Developer EDF had hoped to bring a five-turbine farm to an area of Withy Farm in East Huntspill, but it has now missed the deadline to appeal against the council’s decision to turn it down.

The fight against the farm, branded ‘intrusive’ by a campaign group, started when plans were first announced in 2009.

There have been multiple planning applications put forward by EDF since March 2011, each has been rejected by Sedgemoor District Council.

More than £50,000 is estimated to have been spent battling to stop the wind farm, but Brian Crosby, treasurer for the East Huntspill branch of Huntspill Wind Farm Action Group, said it has proved worthwhile.

He said: “It’s not a surprise to have this news, but it is finally all over, which is nice.

“It doesn’t stop a new application being raised, but I can’t see that happening within the next five years or so.

“Either way, the Government doesn’t seem very enthusiastic about on-shore wind development.

“We had a tremendous amount of support with all the objections which we put into Sedgemoor.

“When you think how long we have been fighting, it’s been against companies who don’t see the battle as a lot of money but it’s a huge amount to people in the village.

“It’s all worth it, but very frustrating; particularly as various things in the application were not correct.”

District councillor for the area, Bob Filmer, said he hoped new laws would mean similar developments would need to gain support from the public before they can reach the planning stage.

He said: “The application went through so many stages and was such a drawn-out process – hopefully we are at the end of those kind of battles.”