Wind turbines more than twice as tall as Big Ben could be built across the UK after Ed Miliband rejected calls to introduce a maximum height limit.
The Energy Secretary’s decision means structures as tall as 850ft – also higher than London’s iconic Gherkin – can be built on hills and fields.
The move will allow massive models being developed by the likes of China to be erected around the UK.
And it coincides with the decision to lift the previous government’s ban on all onshore wind in the English countryside.
A spokesman for the Energy Department has confirmed ‘there are no national limits on turbine height in the UK’, according to the Telegraph.
However, they added that ‘landscape and visual impacts must be measured and taken into account’.
In Scotland permission has already been granted for 10 machines up to 823ft tall to be erected at New Cumnock in East Ayrshire, as the previous Tory restriction on building never applied.
Scottish government data also shows planning application for four similar schemes have been submitted – all for turbines over 720ft high.
Aileen Jackson, from campaign group Scotland Against Spin, said the ‘peace and tranquillity of the countryside no longer exists’ and has been replaced by ‘a mass of constantly rotating blades’.
Wales, meanwhile, is also witnessing surges in applications for enormous wind turbines.
The largest proposed so far, 12 miles north of Cardiff, could be taller than the hills on which they are built.
England’s tallest onshore wind turbine is in Bristol with a height of 492ft, double the height of the average English turbine.
Amazon is planning a slightly taller one, 500ft high, to power its warehouse in Swindon.
New 850ft turbines would eclipse Big Ben, which stands at 315ft, the Gherkin, which stands at 590ft, and not be too far off the 1,020ft height of The Shard.
The average wind turbine in the UK, meanwhile, measures around 246ft tall.
James Robottom, from trade body RenewableUK, said he expects a surge in planning applications for large new turbines in England in the next few months.
‘Modern onshore wind turbines are larger, but they also generate considerably more power than those built in previous decades.,’ he said.
‘Not all new wind farms will use larger turbines, but it’s reasonable for the option to be available given the clear benefit for the UK’s energy security, and for bill payers in having more low-cost electricity on the grid.’
Jonathan Dean, director of The Campaign for the Protection of Rural Wales (CPRW), said that renewable energy was important but not at the price of destroying landscapes.