HOUSE prices in the parish of St Enoder have dropped 20 per cent due to the number of wind turbines blighting the landscape, it has been claimed.

Homeowner Peter Waller, of Tredinnick Farm Cottage, says he has spoken to three estate agents who have all said visible turbines have slashed the value of his property by a fifth.

He made the claim at a meeting of St Enoder Parish Council on Tuesday during a presentation by Community Power Cornwall (CPC), which is seeking to install a turbine at Glebe farm, between St Enoder village and Summercourt.

Mr Waller said: “In our small community we are losing hundreds of thousands of pounds as these applications go ahead.”

He said: “It’s a hot potato. They [turbines] would definitely make a difference to the value, but it’s hard to put a figure on it. It would definitely make the property trickier to sell.”

A nationwide study published last week by the London School of Economics (LSE) reviewed more than a million homes located near large wind farms over a 12-year period, and found their property values fell by 11 per cent.

Those close to smaller farms saw their value drop by seven per cent, according to the report.

During Tuesday’s meeting, Cornwall Council planning officer Dan Nicholls said that under current legislation property values cannot be taken into account when considering planning applications

He told residents and councillors: “We can’t say that because there will be a property value drop we will refuse the application, because we are not allowed to.”

The 16 members of the public who attended the meeting all opposed CPC’s proposal for a 34 metre turbine, which could power 58 homes, despite the community focus of the scheme.

Neil Farrington, of CPC, said three per cent of the revenue would go to Pentreath Ltd, a mental health organisation based at Glebe Farm.

Locals would also have the opportunity to put their own money towards the £400,000 project, which should give them a five to seven per cent return on their investment.

However, resident Mel Morcom said: “Having the word ‘community’ in front of an application changes none of the facts and none of the potential problems.”

And Debbie Hulks added: “It sickens me the number of turbines that are appearing across our landscape to Newquay and I really don’t want to see another one.”

Robert Brown said he could count six turbines from his home. “Whichever window we look out of we see turbines and we don’t want them,” he said.

Mr Waller added: “It’s blindingly obvious that we’ve reached saturation point. We’ve got solar panels and we’ve got wind turbines, and quite honestly we’ve had enough of it. Long term you are changing the landscape by installing these; this is not the countryside I moved to.”

A public consultation on the Glebe Farm plans is ongoing and Cornwall Council will make a decision on the application at a later date.