November's Parish News carried the story about the proposed 'Wind Farm' in Stinchcombe and ended with the news that the Ecotricity planning application for a 70 metre high wind monitoring mast on the site had been refused by Stroud District Council. Since then, Ecotricity has appealed to the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government to reverse this decision on the basis that wind monitoring is required to establish a viable business case for the establishment of a 'Wind Farm'. The inspector appointed by the central government Planning Inspectorate reversed the decision of the elected members of the Development Control Committee at Stroud District Council and 'allowed' the installation of a monitoring mast for a period of 18 months on 12th January 2010. It would appear that the decision of the Planning Inspectorate failed to take note of the fact that a monitoring mast for the furtherance of a business case for the operation of a 'Wind Farm' in Stinchcombe was not necessary until it had been established that such a 'Wind Farm' had been agreed by the Local Planning Authority through an appropriate planning application. It remains to be seen whether or not this fact will be addressed or ignored by local and central government authorities.

The central government Appeal Decision on the monitoring mast can be viewed from the main menu at Downloads / Parish Council Items.