Cumbria is popular with wind farm developers

The proposals would mean planners taking less account of whether the wind farms could be seen from a national park.

Plans for wind farms in the county have been turned down in the past partly because they would be seen from the Lake District or the Yorkshire Dales National Parks.

Conservationists fear the proposals will mean the wind-swept hills around the national parks becoming dominated by turbines.

The new guidance, to be published by John Prescott's Office of the Deputy Prime Minister, will rule out the idea of "buffer zones" to keep wind farms away from the immediate vicinity of national parks and protected areas.

The government believes this creates unjustified obstacles to generating electricity from renewable sources.

Wind farm developers have said they do not believe the country's most beautiful landscapes will end up surrounded by windmills as a result of the new guidelines.