GOVERNMENT energy subsidies should be redirected away from wind turbines towards other schemes, a York MP has told ministers.

Julian Sturdy, who represents York Outer, is opposing plans for masts at Murton Moor and Kexby and has criticised City of York Council's Local Plan which includes more than 40 sites with the potential to be used for wind farms.

He and other Conservative backbench MPs have called for cuts to subsidies for wind turbine developers so other forms of renewable energy, including offshore wind, tidal and wave power, get more investment, with Mr Sturdy saying he feared turbines were being "forced on some communities by landowners hellbent on achieving very desirable subsidies".

Energy and Climate Change Minister Ed Davey said subsidies were already being balanced but he continued to support subsidies for onshore wind. Mr Sturdy claimed Mr Davey and the Liberal Democrats were blocking the Government from cutting onshore wind subsidies, saying: "it is ultimately our rural communities who have to bear the brunt of these massive and unsightly turbines, which create a meagre and intermittent energy supply in spite of the distress they cause."