AMBITIOUS plans to generate hydro-electricity from the River Tyne in Northumberland have been announced.

Feasibility studies are being carried out into placing a hydro turbine in the Tyne at Hexham for a scheme that could eventually power all the houses in the town.

Although the plans are at an early stage, Hexham Town Council is backing the initiative from Hexham Community Partnership and the environmental group Transition Tynedale.

If successful, the scheme would produce carbon-free energy going into the National Grid and bring financial rewards for shareholders.

Northumberland County Council has part-funded the feasibility study being carried out by Inter-Hydro Technology of Kendal, Cumbria.

And while it would take up to three years to get the river hydro scheme up and running, Hexham Community Partnership chair Bob Hull said: “We have been considering it for some time and believe it could be possible.

“It needs a specific head of water through a turbine and below the bridge on the Tyne at Hexham is the area we are looking at.

“We would need grant-funding for a design study and at the same time start to raise loan shares.”

Mr Hull, a former environmental policy director with the European Commission in Brussels, won permission to place a hydro turbine in his own garden at Hexham in 2009.