A COUNTY council has submitted plans to install a wind turbine at its new premises.

North Yorkshire County Council wants to put the turbine on the site of its new offices in Thurston Road, Northallerton.

The offices have already been selected as an example of best practice by the European Display Campaign and are featured on its website.

The wind turbine is being proposed as a way to generate electricity locally and further reduce the building's carbon footprint.

And it will help the council meet several of the objectives set out in its sustainable development policy.

They include promoting understanding of sustainable development by council staff, partner organisations and local communities, striving to minimise emissions of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases and protecting and enhancing the environment.

Councillor Carl Les, executive member for corporate services, said: "This project will visibly demonstrate the potential of renewable energy to the wider community of North Yorkshire and show the council's support and commitment to sustainable development.

"Wind turbines are a proven and effective technology. However their use in an urban setting is still in need of further promotion and support. For this reason, great care has been taken in selecting an appropriate machine that will perform well in respect of noise, visual appearance, and wind turbulence associated with buildings."

The turbine would be an Eoltec Scirocco, which is said to be quiet and the only urban wind turbine in the UK to undergo independent noise level measurements.

The machine is no more than ten decibels louder than background noise. The noise level in a car is about 80. The wind turbine will generate about seven per cent of the electricity for the new offices.

Martin Foster, of Castlevale Property, which is developing the offices, has agreed to install the machine's foundations free, cutting the cost of the project by a quarter.

During its 20-year lifespan a typical wind turbine will produce more than 80 times the energy used to build it. A conventional power station only produces five times more energy than was used to build it.