MORE wind turbines could be erected around the Kent coast under new Government proposals.

John Hutton, Secretary of State for the newly-created Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform, wants to build 7,000 wind turbines around the UK by 2020.

This would mean one turbine would be located at every half a mile along Britain’s coastline.

Mr Hutton admitted change was "inevitable" to tackling climate change.

In an interview with BBC’s Politics Show on Sunday, he said: "There is no way of making the shift to a low carbon technology without there being change and for that change to be visible and evident to people.

"We’ve got a choice as a country, whether we rise to this challenge of change or whether we stick our head in the sands.

"It’s not going to go away. So change is inevitable, if we are going to respond to the challenge of climate change."

The announcement is part of a major step in the Government’s development of off-shore wind for the UK.

He added: "We’ve got to be sure that the UK can be more energy self-sufficient.

"I do not want in 20 years time to find that, you know, whether the lights go on in the morning, is down to some foreign government or someone else.

"So I think with the expansion in renewables, we are I think being able to make progress on both of those fronts.

"Cleaner electricity, cleaner energy, more secure energy for the UK."

Ministers want 20 per cent of Britain’s energy needs to come from renewable energy sources by 2020.

"I think what is important is that we maximize the contribution that renewable sources can make to electricity generation in the UK and off-shore wind is a major untapped resource for us," he said.

There are already plans for the world’s largest offshore wind farm in the world, in the Thames Estuary off the north Kent coast.