Wind turbines on prominent high ground overlooking Wharfedale are to be dismantled within weeks following a planning battle.

Yorkshire Water has confirmed it is to take down four 45-metre high turbines which stand by the Chelker Reservoir, between Addingham and Draughton.

The move comes as Craven District Council planners were preparing an enforcement notice requiring the utility company to remove the turbines, which have stood at the site since 1991.

Sister company Kelda Water Services tried unsuccessfully in recent years to gain planning permission to replace the structures with two much larger wind turbines.

Opponents of the turbines called on the council to enforce conditions of the original planning application – arguing they were seldom seen working and were only permitted temporarily.

Craven District Council development control manager Ian Swain said the council had requested an enforcement notice, but understood Yorkshire Water had now appointed a contractor to remove them.

Yorkshire Water confirmed work to dismantle them would start “in the next week or two”.