ON Tuesday I attended a wind turbine planning application meeting in Hatherleigh town, a beautiful, tranquil part of the rural Central Devon constituency.  A packed community hall resonated with powerful and impassioned arguments against the application. Yet I came away shocked and concerned for the residents of Hatherleigh. The numbers are staggering. In Torridge and West Devon alone there are already 95 wind turbines permitted, another 37 in planning, and 19 at appeal.  If all approved, this would mean more than one wind turbine to every square mile and a quarter.  The planning officer's demeanour and responses were deeply depressing. He stuck rigidly to the 2012 planning guidelines where green energy priorities are the overriding issue. Never mind the impact on the residents, the community, the environment, the countryside, local jobs, tourism and property values. If it's not in the 2012 'material planning guidelines', no matter the merits or the amenity impact, it's ignored.  However, there is a ray of hope. The Government has just gone public, announcing that the '15% by 2020' renewable energy target has already been met. The central plank of the 'material planning grounds'  (the standard justification for the application) has been meeting renewables targets. So, this begs the question.   If we have already delivered the renewable target,  why do we need more wind turbines and has not the 'material planning grounds' in this regard been removed or at least hugely weakened? Government needs to urgently amend the planning guidelines so that renewables targets can no longer override the genuine objections of Devon residents which are currently swept aside by green evangelism. Mel Stride, the incumbent Conservative MP, had a message read out to the meeting apologising for his absence as he was too busy in Westminster, but fully supported the resident's objections. That's rich considering that, over many years now, he has sat on his hands and done nothing to stop the wind turbine juggernaut and the Government's insane energy policy. Colin Stewart UKIP Prospective Parliamentary Candidate for Central Devon I ATTENDED the meeting on June 24 in Hatherleigh, organised by the parish council, regarding the planning application (no 00635/2014) for the erection of a 77m turbine at Heane Farm. Why this meeting did not happen earlier so your publication could have reported it in the issue of Thursday, June 26, instead of it appearing on July 3 which happens to be the last day for comments, I don't know. In today's world the applicant is given a distinct advantage over the objectors — the planning system is biased towards big business encouraged by government dictates which muzzle the representatives of the people. Planning should be a democratic matter. The current system allows people to comment 'on planning issues' only! Views are not, although the planning representative for West Devon Borough Council, Jeremy Guise, admitted the guidance from central government was contradictory in parts, therefore their decision would be subjective. The elected representatives have to give weight to public opinion. The meeting obviously showed that the expertise of the 'unpaid' audience was far superior to both the consultants from Migrid and the planning officer present. The comment by a member of the audience needs to be answered — 'who gains from this wind turbine?' Neil Price Bridge Street Hatherleigh