ECO-FRIENDLY plans to generate power using waste from a crisp factory proved the real McCoy for councillors yesterday.

Farmer Philip Johnson asked Durham County Council for permission to produce electricity – enough to heat 1,200 homes – from potato waste from the Walkers’ crisp factory, in Peterlee.

With the request granted, about 1,000 tonnes of potatoes a year will be pumped through an anaerobic digester, along with about 7,000 tonnes of agricultural crops and 2,000 tonnes of manure.

That will generate 500kw of electricity for the National Grid and 8,000 tonnes of fertiliser.

The complex process will take place in a 420 square metre, 11.5m-high recycling plant at Quarrington Farm, near Old Quarrington, County Durham.

Mr Johnson farms 800 acres across County Durham and North Yorkshire, including land belonging to Durham University, Houghall College and the Woodland Trust.

His scheme won praise from green groups including Friends of the Earth and the National Non-Food Crops Centre, the York-based centre for renewable energy technology.

At yesterday’s meeting, he said the council had the chance to allow him to become a farming hero, telling the committee: “We’re proud of what we do and we believe you should be proud of us.”

But the Bowburn and Parkhill CommunityPartnership, Old Quarrington Community Association and the Durham branch of the Campaign to Protect Rural England wrote to Durham County Council to object.

Council officers recommended the proposal be refused, saying the plant would be discordant with the landscape.

But Mr Johnson said the recommendation was “plain and simply wrong”, and the location was chosen to minimise the impact on neighbours and users of a nearby bridleway.

But he infuriated councillors by saying: “We believe the proposal has been decided upon prior to the meeting.

Surely you’re not going to be bullied by those among you who have a personal grudge against us.”

Committee chairman Councillor Ronnie Rodgers said: “There’s no hidden agenda with this planning committee.

Every member votes on the merit of each application.”

Coun Joe Armstrong said: “How they can question the integrity of members is beyond me. I find the scheme to have a lot of merits – it’s very good, but in the wrong place.”

The application was granted.