The plan by Princes Soft Drinks to build a giant wind turbine at its premises in Weaverthorpe Road, Tong, is highly commendable in an age in which carbon dioxide emissions are of increasing concern worldwide.

The company deserves a lot of praise for thinking in environment-friendly terms and looking at alternative ways of producing the energy it needs.

We need as many businesses as possible to seek ways of producing the energy they need to drive their production processes without damaging the environment. However, planning these alternatives is always going to be a tricky balancing act.

The sheer scale of the wind turbine proposed by Princes is certain to create alarm among local residents and those who fear for our visual environment. Even residents who are willing to accept the idea of a generator on this scale may well be concerned about just how loud such equipment can be when the sails are being moved by the wind, which is why they are most commonly sited in open spaces and many people favour the idea of giant windfarms being created off the coast or out at sea.

Whether or not sufficient measures could be put in place to avoid or seriously reduce noise disturbance remains to be seen, but it will clearly be a difficult issue to resolve. In a small way it is an example of the sort of debate that is likely to rage for many years to come - how far we are willing to suffer personal inconvenience to help to extend the life of the planet and its natural resources for generations to come.