The battle over extending the life of the Kirkby Moor wind farm looks poised to enter another round of legal hostilities.

Campaigners defeated by the outcome of a public inquiry in Ulverston earlier this year are not ready to throw the towel in just yet.

Good for them. All available avenues should be explored. The right to appeal makes our judicial system famed throughout the world.

Quite how much this has cost the residents is difficult to assess.

Legal representation rarely comes cheap and maintaining the energy to fight complex arguments for years and years, can take its toll on people.

You only need to look at the farcical Brexit battle to see that.

The inspector’s decision to allow the wind farm to stay longer than its neighbours wanted also has ramifications for other developments of this type.

Who is to say that the Askam and Ireleth wind farm, or others locally, may now live on much longer than originally granted permission for?

Only time will tell.

Yet even the most fervent advocates of wind energy must concede that allowing companies to move the goalposts so very late in the day, will only serve to chip away at public confidence in the planning process and undermine the authority of our elected councillors?