Controversy has surrounded the development of windfarms since they started to appear in England and Wales in 1991, and the issues have received considerable media attention. The conflict has taken place within the planning system, site by site. Closer examination suggests that the wind power controversy is a result of the inadequate integration of both the two main bodies of public policy which bear upon the topic: energy policy and land use planning policy. Wind power is being developed within the culture of energy policy with its supply-side bias and its capacity to allow for rapid technological change which is counter to the protective and regulatory approach of planning policy for the upland areas chiefly affected. As a result [...]