Valuers will be sent in to assess wind farms

Location has always been crucial to the valuation of a house or a high street shop. But wind farms are soon to be visited by valuation officers to see how much the giant white turbines are individually worth.

John Prescott, the Deputy Prime Minister, is to introduce rules in 2005 so that turbines will have to pay the same rates as other "non-domestic property".

The prospect of valuing wind turbines has bemused politicians who question how it can be done accurately. "I do wonder how a valuation is going to be made, because one turbine is very much like the other," said David Liddington, the Tory Environment spokesman who has asked parliamentary questions on the subject.

The Government's surveyors will be given the task of valuing the turbines so they can assess how much in business rates can be paid. The Office of the Deputy Prime Minister said it was changing the rules so that rates paid by wind turbines would no longer be based on how much energy they generated.