ONE of Northumberland’s earliest green energy developments came to fruition last night – with the Duchess’s seal of approval.

The Duchess of Northumberland unveiled a plaque at Boe Rigg bistro bunkhouse campsite in Charlton, near Bellingham, declaring it officially open.

And for owner Julian Morrison-Bell it meant a two-year battle was finally over.

“As an eco-friendly development, Boe Rigg took some getting through the planning process,” Mr Morrison-Bell said.

“We finally got planning permission in the spring of last year and started building in September.

“But there were two years where we were trying to push through planning permission.

“The first planning reason was that Charlton wasn’t on their list of settlements – we had to tell them that it was there and 1.5% of the National park population lived in it!

“Then they objected to a woodburning system, and then they objected to a new chimney.

“After that, we couldn’t have any residential. We did have an element of residential at one stage, so we removed that and offered some affordable housing, but we couldn’t do that either.