Planners to recommend Weardale eco village

Sep 26 2009 by Neil McKay, The Journal

PLANNERS will next week recommend the approval of a multi-million pound “eco-village” which supporters hope will revive a stagnant rural economy.

Ever since the closure of the Lafarge cement works in Eastgate, Weardale, County Durham, in 2003 which left a £7m-a-year hole in the local economy and took 147 jobs, various ideas have been put forward to revive the dale.

Ideas of a Las Vegas-style casino and the suggestion that North East-born actor Rowan Atkinson’s Mr Bean character was used to promote the district in the South East Asian tourism markets, were met with disbelief.

They were submitted by consultants hired by the Weardale Task Force, which comprised representatives from Durham County Council, Wear Valley District Council, One North East and Lafarge Cement UK to assist the recovery of the economy.

Much more acceptable – to some locals at least – is the idea of an eco-village which could create 350 jobs.

The project, dubbed by critics as eco-Disney, will feature all five forms of land-based renewable energy available in the UK – wind, solar, biomass, hydro and geothermal.

A hotel and spa, 65 homes, and workshops are proposed along with outdoor sporting facilities such as mountain biking.