THE developers of a proposed wind farm behind Greenock today denied that they have done a u-turn over noise levels.

Protest group "Keep Corlic Wild" say Airtricity originally promised that the speed of the turbine blades would be the same in all winds to keep down noise.

But now the group say the speed will be 'variable'.

Airtricity want to build 23 turbines on Corlic Hill, each of them 312-feet high.

The apparent difference of opinion was highlighted today by Corlic group member Bill Riddell, who said: 'Airtricity produced a leaflet at their information day in the Strone in March. It said that the aerodynamic noise created by the blades cutting the air cannot be completely eliminated, but is greatly reduced by the control of the blade speed.

'The leaflet said: "This is one of the reasons the turbine blade speed is constant in all wind speeds".' But he pointed out that information now produced by Airtricity in their environmental impact assessment is different.

It states: 'Rotational speed is from 9 to 17 rotations per minute. The blades are carefully designed to minimise noise.' Airtricity development engineer, Shane King, said: 'The speed builds up to a constant level of about 17. It takes about 30 seconds to reach that speed.' Mr Riddell also said a report from the Dutch university of Groningen casts serious doubts on Airtricity"s assurances that turbine sound levels will not create a nuisance to residents living within 800 to 1,200 metres.

Mr Riddell said: 'The nearest house to Corlic will be 800 metres away, but ScottishPower specify a minimum distance of 1,000 metres between houses and their own turbines.' Mr King replied: 'Different turbines have different outputs. We are working to the strictest government guidelines.'