The Government should listen to people opposed to onshore wind farms “rather than seemingly riding roughshod over their concerns”, Nick Boles, the Planning Minister, has told John Hayes, the Energy Minister.

“Local people have genuine concerns” and “wind farms are not appropriate in all settings”, Mr Boles wrote in a letter, according to the Daily Telegraph.

His intervention will be a boost for communities fighting the building of turbines. The letter, sent on December 20, has also been described as evidence of a Tory ministerial alliance against Lib Dem attempts to introduce more onshore turbines.

There are currently 3,350 working turbines generating five gigawatts of power, enough for 2.4 million homes. Another 2,682 are waiting to be built and 3,063 more are at the planning stage. To meet current targets, the Government would need up to 13Gw of onshore wind power by 2020.