The proposal is for 27 wind turbines - each 400ft high

A report to be considered on Monday says the turbines would cause significant harm to the landscape and be visible from a wide area.

The Winash windfarm would put 27 turbines -some of the largest ever built in mainland Britain - on a high ridge between the A6 on Shap Fell, and the M6 at Tebay.

The �55m plan means the turbines would come right up to the boundary of the Lake District National Park.

A detailed report from the Park's planners said it was clear the landscape could not absorb such numbers of turbines.

It claimed there would be a substantial impact on the landscape visible from large parts of the Lakes, the Yorkshire Dales, and the area of fells in between.

The report added the visual impact had to be balanced against the energy the turbines would generate for nearly 50,000 homes, but concluded it was completely outweighed by the harm to the countryside.

The organisations behind the plans, the Renewable Development Company and West Coast Energy, said they had consulted a number of environmental groups in the run-up to submitting the plans.