URGENT action must be taken to ensure communities affected by large wind-farm developments can reap long-term benefits.

The Joseph Rowntree Foundation said in a new report that more must be done to ensure growing wind-farm expansion is matched by help for neighbouring communities.

Its research looked into the impact on the environment, the unequal distribution of economic impact and the concentration of developments in disadvantaged communities.

It concluded that a mechanism for deals between developers and local people must be put in place now – before the next wave of investment takes place.

The provision and expansion of community benefit funds – in both size and geographic scope – are necessary to improve the economic, social and environmental prospects of affected areas, it is claimed.

The report, Wind Energy and Justice for Disadvantaged Communities, acknowledges there is scope to learn from good practice across the UK, where organisations have managed to increase the level of community benefits that developers provide.

The Stirlingshire village of Fintry was cited as an example. Community benefits took the form of ownership of a 2.5MW turbine, within a wider farm, which will eventually generate an annual income of £400,000.

Report author Dr Richard Cowell said: "We are seeing the size of community benefit funds increase in line with the growing scale of wind farm developments.

"That presents a huge opportunity to address the disadvantages faced by those living alongside wind farms."

The report comes in the wake of a row over wind-farm community benefit funds. Earlier this month, renewable energy developer Infinergy said Scotland's councils were increasingly pocketing the cash against residents' wishes and using it across the whole local authority area.