A FARMER from the region has become one of the first in the country to take part in a project aimed at helping cash-strapped landowners and reducing global warming.

As a result of National Wind Power's (NWP) Windworks scheme, Michael Eggleston, of High Sharpley Farm, near Seaham, County Durham, has been granted permission to install two large wind turbines on his land.

The Government-backed project has been devised to give suitable landowners the opportunity of providing a small wind energy facility as well as securing a long-term income.

A keen environmentalist, Mr Eggleston, who already has turbines on his land, was approached by NWP, which judged his adjoining South Sharpley Farm at Seaton as being ideal for the venture.

With permission secured from Easington District Council, plans are under way for the installation of two 60 metre high turbines which will provide energy for 1,600 homes.

Mr Eggleston said: "I thought it was a great opportunity to utilise our wind resource while contributing towards the drive for green energy.''

But he also saw it as a chance to recoup financial losses. "Many landowners have been hard hit by the recent crisis in farming and the income will be extremely helpful in keeping farms viable.''

Responding to two local objections to the project, Mr Eggleston, who plans an open day when his turbines are installed, said there were already four turbines on his next door farm and that his two generators would be constructed in a low-lying area.

Susannah Side, development executive at NWP, said the Windworks projects would make a valuable contribution towards the Government's aim of reducing the UK's carbon dioxide emissions to 20 per cent of the 1990 levels by 2010.

She also confirmed that a similar scheme was being planned at a farm near Hartlepool.