AN energy company has urged a planning inspector to follow previous public inquiries and give the latest wind farm scheme the go ahead.

Renewable Energy Systems (RES) insists there needs to be consistency as other similar developments have been successful on appeal.

A public inquiry into proposals to build nine turbines in the East Riding opened yesterday at County Hall in Beverley, as first reported on the Mail's website.

RES has appealed the decision by East Riding Council's planning committee to throw out proposals to build wind farm near Roos in Holderness.

The reasons for refusing the plans included visual impact, the effect on the character of the rural area and the cumulative impact.

Patrick Robinson, for RES, said: "The sort of policy arguments we see in the council's proofs have been advanced in a series of local planning appeals where they have uniformly failed to find favour.

"Those appeal decisions do not set out a chain of reasoning that indicates some sort of cap on development has now been reached.

"They indicate the landscape here is accommodating of this type of development and the local policy context is also supportive of the scheme."

In her opening submissions Megan Thomas, for the council, said: "The particular location of this wind farm is extremely harmful as it would visually merge with two other wind farms, consigning the residents of Roos, Halsham and other properties to a wind farm landscape."

The inquiry will last six days. It will not sit on Monday and site visits will take place next Tuesday.

The public will get the chance to speak next Tuesday with a meeting at Roos Memorial Hall at 5pm.

The inquiry will conclude on Wednesday with closing submissions.