VILLAGERS are hoping to win their share of up to £500,000 worth of funding for carbon reduction measures as part of a two-year research programme.

Sadberge Parish Council has applied on behalf of the village for a grant from the Low Carbon Communities Challenge on the back of its own work which arose from the parish plan.

The village launched an energy saving project last year to help its residents adopt a greener lifestyle and play their part in combatting climate change.

It has used the project as part of the bid package to the Department of Energy and Climate Change, which runs the carbon challenge.

Just 20 local schemes will be picked to benefit from the £10m fund to improve energy efficiency and tackle climate change.

Parish clerk, Alastair Mackenzie, has put together the bid and while in it he admits that plans for commercial-scale wind farms have been "a sensitive subject for a significant number of local residents", smaller-scale schemes would be likely be looked upon more favourably.

The bid has been supported by a letter from Darlington Borough Council's chief executive Ada Burns, who called the village's energy project "innovative and practical".

The energy saving project has to date focused on home insulation and efficient heating, monitoring of electricity use, providing low energy light bulbs and use of infra-red photographs to highlight electricity use and heating. It has already won a number of awards and praise.

The bid also detailed how any grants would be spent.

The team wanted:

* to form a car club to introduce electric cars

* install heat pumps into existing homes and prove no refurbishments are needed for the work

* promote a change in domestic energy use

* demonstrate to residents they could use solar energy to run household appliances

* investigate the possibility of installing small-scale wind turbines on farms

* install insulation in homes and public buildings

Millie Scaife, chairwoman of Sadberge Parish Council, said: "The funding would offer Sadberge an exciting opportunity to pilot some well thought-out ideas for reducing CO2 emissions.

"Various village groups and organisations have given their written support to the proposals, so we really believe the community can work together to make it successful if we're chosen."