TELECOMS giant BT is considering plans to build one of the region's tallest wind farms in an environmentally "sensitive" coastal area of the Westcountry, critics claim.

The Campaign for the Protection of Rural England has expressed its "concern" that the firm is looking to erect three 410ft (125m) tall turbines overlooking the Bristol Channel at Greater Shelfin Farm near Ilfracombe, North Devon. BT has submitted a "scoping" study to North Devon Council and could apply for planning consent by the end of the year.

As one of the biggest consumers of electricity in the country, the telecoms firm is anxious to generate power from renewable sources to reduce its carbon footprint.

BT said the wind turbines would produce 18,000 megawatt (MW) hours of electricity a year, enough to power 4,100 homes.

In 2007, it announced it wanted to build between three and six turbines up to 262ft (80m) tall at its Earth Station at Goonhilly on The Lizard peninsula, its first foray into wind power generation in the Westcountry.

By 2016, the company wants to reduce its carbon emissions by 80 per cent compared to 1996 levels.

But opposition to the North Devon scheme is already mounting. Bob Barfoot, chairman of the North Devon branch of the CPRE, said the proposed development was "pretty close" to the 22 turbines to be erected next year at Fullabrook Down, which would be England's biggest wind farm to date.

He added: "We cannot object, or not until we see an application, but there are a number of things they have got wrong with the scoping report. Our main concern is that it is in coastal conservation area and close to Ilfracombe. So we are concerned, but we cannot do anything until we see the application."

Bill Wilson, owner of the nearby Mullacott Cross Caravan Park, said the turbines would be "a huge blot on the landscape" that spoiled the coastal views tourists came to North Devon for.

Lawrence Wright, from Campscott Farm, said: "These enormous wind turbines would be a disaster. If this becomes an industrial wasteland, it will destroy our main attraction without producing any local jobs or benefit to the local economy."

Devon has largely resisted the march of the wind farm developers, chiefly because around 50 per cent of the county's land mass boasts some form of protected status.

But Mr Barfoot said a surge in applications might follow a public inquiry in South Molton into plans for two wind farms in Devon, which could prove nationally influential in setting a precedent on noise pollution.

He went on: "Developers are looking all over North Devon, and they have been for some time. There will be more in North Devon.

"I think a number of developers are waiting to see what happens in the public inquiry in South Molton so they will get guidelines on what is and what is not acceptable. Developers always seem to pick the most sensitive place, whether or not that is deliberate I don't know."

BT's planned turbines in North Devon would just be one metre shorter than the 20 monoliths proposed for just south of Davidstow airfield, North Cornwall, which would be the tallest turbines in Devon and Cornwall. Last month, the plan was rejected by the Cornwall Council's east sub area planning committee.

Jason Mann, a BT spokesman, which owns land close to the proposed site, said: "We have a strong reputation as an environmentally aware company. Any application would be in keeping with that. We would want to produce something that is as efficient as possible and as in keeping as is possible with the local environment."