The owner of an award-winning organic farm fears plans for a wind farm nearby could hit courses she runs for people with autism.

Farmer Lydia Otter with Sam Kitchen, one of the autistic children she helps

Lydia Otter runs the educational courses for young people with autism at Pennyhooks Farm, near Shrivenham, but says the giant turbines could disturb the students.

Planning proposals for five turbines at Westmill Farm, Watchfield, were accepted last year, but have been amended to increase the wingspan by 10m. At the highest point, they would reach 80m.

Ms Otter, whose family has run the farm for 50 years and recently won a Country and Land Business Association Wildlife Award, said: "We are unsure whether we will be able to continue to run the course or the farm, dominated as it will be by these massive industrial machines. People with autism can have real sensory difficulty with spinning objects, being drawn inexorably by their movement.

"The course here is a pioneering attempt to bridge the gap, in a tranquil setting, from school life to adulthood by experiencing the working environment in a successful way, learning how to work as a team and gaining useful practical skills."

Westmill Farm owner Adam Twine, who put in the planning application, said 73 per cent of people who attended an exhibition on the wind farm proposals earlier this year supported the scheme.

National Wind Power would own three turbines, but two would be offered for community ownership in conjunction with Baywind Energy Co-operative.