Shipham residents turn down wind turbines
Plans for two wind turbines could be in jeopardy after residents of a Somerset village voted against them.
Local businessman John Zamick had wanted to build the turbines at Callow Rock Quarry in Shipham near Cheddar.
But the quarry's owners, Aggregate Industries, said it would only support the plans if the community wanted the turbines.
A parish council ballot found 63% were against the scheme. Mr Zamick said he would look for alternative sites.
He said he had spoken to other landowners about the possibility of the turbines being on their sites and was waiting for their responses.
Turnout for the ballot was almost 50%, with 238 votes cast.
Mr Zamick, who runs the company Disgen which develops wind turbines, said he would have funded the turbines himself, and that there would have been the option for local people to invest in the turbines.
He also said regardless of whether locals invested, he would have set up a community of fund which could have provided the parish council with £20,000 a year.
One resident who voted against the plans and did not want to be identified said: "I live in a place that looks towards where the wind turbines would have been and I just feel that if two were there, there may be others and it would become very noisy."