CAMPAIGNERS are hoping wind farm plans will be blown away.
They are celebrating after being handed a boost by planners in the fight to protect moorland.
Council officials are recommending that planning permission should be refused for seven giant turbines on Saddleworth Moor.
Oldham councillors will consider the application next Thursday.
The plan to build 365ft wind turbines at Denshaw raised protests from Margaret Thatcher's former Press secretary, Bernard Ingham, and green campaigner David Bellamy.
During a three-year fight against the plans opponents have said the turbines would destroy the landscape and create too much noise.
Ken Hulme, a Saddleworth parish councillor, said he was very happy with the officials' recommendation.
He added: "This should always have been treated as a planning issue in Oldham's Green Belt, not as a debate about energy policy.
"The officials' exhaustive report focuses on the planning issues. They have clearly listened carefully to objectors."
Kathy Doyle, a spokeswoman from EON, the company behind the project, said: "We are disappointed with the officers' recommendation.
"We believe it is a great project and we have done all we can to meet the planning criteria."
