Art (and timeless landscapes) on your doorstep in Yorkshire

More on the plans for a windfarm on the Brontë country moors in BBC News:

A consultation on plans to build a large wind farm on moorland associated with the Brontë sisters has fallen "well short of standard", Bradford Council has said.

Calderdale Energy Park (CEP) wants to install 34 turbines on Walshaw Moor, between Hebden Bridge and Haworth. Although the site lies within Calderdale, councillors said the impact on neighbouring Bradford would be "significant".

Developers say the scheme could generate enough low‑carbon electricity to power about 198,000 homes a year.

In its response to CEP the council said it had effectively been consulted "on an abstract concept rather than a transparent, scientifically robust infrastructure design".

The South Pennine moors and the Pennine Way are closely associated with writers Charlotte, Emily and Anne Brontë, who were raised at the Haworth parsonage, now a museum, in the 1840s.

CEP originally proposed up to 65 turbines on the land near Haworth, reducing the number to 41 in April 2025 and then to 34 in February 2026 after saying it had listened to residents' concerns.

The plans have faced opposition from campaigners, including Josh Fenton-Glynn, Labour MP for Calder Valley, who fear damage to peatland habitats and the loss of moorland used by bird species.

Bradford Council said it had not been adequately involved in the consultation, raising concerns about both environmental information and engagement.

It argued that key details remained unclear, including proposals for a cabling corridor that could pass through Bradford if the project goes ahead.

Councillors also criticised what they described as flaws in the assessment of the "globally significant" Brontë cultural landscape, warning of potential impacts on tourism, biodiversity and historic villages.

The authority added it had not been included in meetings or technical working groups linked to the environmental impact assessment.

CEP has previously said the turbines would not deter visitors to the moors.

A spokesperson said the company had followed all legal requirements and extended the consultation period to encourage engagement, adding it remained committed to "constructive and ongoing engagement" with the council and other stakeholders. (John Greenwood and Andrew Barton)

It may not deter visitors at first but it would certainly and immediately alter their experiences of the place, which now feels timeless and with giant turbines it would not. And then, perhaps slowly, people would stop looking at a landscape that no longer looks like the one that inspired the Brontës. It's that simple, although we know that longsightedness is not a common or interesting quality these days.

Still in Yorkshire, although in much more pleasant news, The Yorkshire Post features the current The National Gallery: Art On Your Doorstep.

“Instead of people coming to the National Gallery, the National Gallery is coming to the people and reminding them of their national collections because this is a public collection,” explains Dr Janine Sykes, Kirklees Council’s curator (Visual Arts). “Our gallery in Kirklees, the Huddersfield Art Gallery, closed in 2020 as part of a huge regeneration project, Our Cultural Heart, and won’t open until 2030, it is a whole generation without a gallery, so I responded to the National Gallery’s call-out. I immediately thought about Oakwell Hall because I know there are so many amazing stories and the history here – it is the oldest property in Kirklees Museums and Galleries.”

To Janine’s delight, Oakwell Hall was selected as one of the destinations for the exhibition which has been curated to encapsulate links to the Bröntes, through Caspar David Friedrich’s ‘Winter Landscape’ 1811, the hall and to Birstall, birthplace of the scientist and founder of Oxygen, Joseph Priestley.

Interestingly, one of the paintings located here features the work of Joseph Wright’s ‘of Derby’ ‘An Experiment on a Bird in the Air Pump’ 1768 which, Janine explains, links perfectly with Priestley.

“As we know Joseph Priestley discovered Oxygen and carbonated water and they knew each other through the Learned Society where they would meet to swap ideas on science, so it allows us to talk about the history of Birstall,” says Janine. “The Winter Landscape by Caspar David Friedrich was from the German Romantic Movement where nature was considered very powerful. All the Brönte [sic] siblings were artistic and their novels were all part of the literary British Romantic genre. I thought wouldn’t it be amazing to somehow link this place-based history to an exhibition with The National Gallery.” [...]

“What is very distinct about ‘Art On Your Doorstep’ in Kirklees is I like people to hear different voices in interpretation. It reminds us that it is our collection and for us to enjoy, and it helps to raise awareness of the public collection.”

Near the old railway bridge where trains once trundled along the Leeds New Line linking Birstall to Leeds and London before its closure during the Beeching era, is Joseph Mallord William Turner’s ‘Rain, Steam and Speed – The Great Western Railway’ 1844. Janine says it encourages viewers to imagine Birstall in the industrial era.

“There was a lot of wealth here. When you look at Oakwell Hall it was connected to wealth. A lot of Charlotte Bronte’s friends were middle class from textiles and industry. The wider industrial connection was the railway. There was a lot of freight, whether textiles or coal, and it reminds us of the industrial past. [...]

Special events planned over the summer include fun science sessions for children, a family art club and, on July 25, Janine and Programme Officer, Samuel Harrison from the Brönte Society & Bronte Parsonage Museum, will host a special tour.

“There is something for everyone. Whether you are interested in engineering, there is the industrial past, there are national and global literary connections with the Bröntes, there are some amazing role models. There are different stories and we are making it part of the paintings and about the place,” says Janine. (Sally Clifford)