THE County Durham school which became the first in the country to generate power from its own wind turbine has now marked another environmental milestone.

Cassop Primary School yesterday took delivery of the first environmentally-friendly boiler to be installed in the UK.

The Austrian-made biomass Kob boiler will replace the school's 30-year-old oil-fired model.

The move is part of Durham County Council's policy to, wherever possible, replace oil and solid fuel systems with equipment which gives off less carbon dioxide emissions.

Yesterday, the 250kWh boiler, which can burn wood pellets or forestry wood chips, arrived at the school.

For the past weeks pupils have been incorporating the pending arrival of the equipment into their lessons.

The children have plotted its route from Austria as well as considering suitable methods of transport.

Jeff Kirton, the county council's energy management co-ordinator said: "While this is the first Kob boiler to be installed in Britain, the firm has a proven record throughout Europe with more than 3,000 installations

"The boiler we are installing won the Austrian national award for innovation for its rotary furnace.''

Although it can burn a wide range of wood fuels and has a device which allows a gas burner to be installed, the boiler will mainly use wood pellets manufactured from clean waste wood at the aerobic digester plant in neighbouring Coxhoe.

The boiler will enhance the school's growing reputation as an environmentally friendly place to learn.