WIND turbines could be about to put local councillors in a spin.

Three possible turbines over 100ft tall may be put up in the South Hams countryside.

It is likely they will be visible from Dartmouth and many town councillors are divided over their benefits.

Dittisham Parish Council, too, says there has been a lot of 'emotive' interest over the biggest of the three proposals – which would see a turbine taller than Exeter Cathedral built on land belonging to parish councillor Keith Wotton.

Dartmouth town councillor Cllr Robin Springett doesn't like them and said they would have to run for 35 years to save the amount of carbon used in their construction.

'I think they stink and with no wind they are bloody useless,' he told a meeting of the town council's planning committee last week.

Cllr Springett added that land­owners were attracted by high Government subsidies.

But Cllr Tony Fyson maintained, with things such as climate change to consider, there were many good reasons for having alternative means of power. And any application should be considered on planning grounds, he said.

Committee chairman Cllr David Gent said that even if the turbines were noisy and intrusive, it took years to build a power station and wind turbines were a vast improvement on nuclear waste.

'The National Grid has issued a statement saying they can just about keep the lights on this winter and because so many power stations are out of commission, it's time we stopped putting sticking plaster on,' he said.

For more on this story, see this week's Dartmouth Chronicle