Landowners in the North-East are being offered staggering sums of money to site wind farms on their property, The Journal can reveal today.

A contract seen by The Journal for a site in the region could see the landowner rake in more than £6m for agreeing to the turbines.

It demonstrates the huge temptation for landowners, who are offered a guaranteed income way in excess of what they could gain from any other source, for no outlay of their own.

And it also illustrates the prices power companies are willing to pay due to the massive incomes they themselves can generate through a Government subsidy system for wind power.

The offer to landowners was described as a "no brainer" by one rural community leader last night.

The contract, for a rural site in the North-East, offers the landowner £1.50 for every megawatt hour (MWh) of electricity generated by the turbines in their first 10 years.

Given the likely amount of electricity such a site could generate, the landowner could expect to collect about £1.5m over that time from such an arrangement.

After that, the rate doubles for the rest of the wind farm's lifetime. Given an anticipated 25-year lifespan, that would mean an extra £4.5m for the landowner.

However, for bigger wind farms being placed in the North-East, the total amount earned by the landowner in a similar deal could be as high as £10m over 25 years.

There is also a "retainer" fee paid during the period when the power firm is testing the area, with bonuses paid on the installation of an anemometer to measure wind speed, and on planning permission being granted. A bonus is also paid to the landowner for agreeing to the contract quickly.

The power company gives itself the right to withdraw from the deal with two months' notice - but the landowner is locked in unless the company reneges on its side of the bargain.

The hefty price being offered in rent for each MWh is, however, just a fraction of the £46 the generating company can make from each MWh of renewable power through the Government's Renewables Obligation subsidy system.

Countryside Alliance regional director Richard Dodd, a farmer at Belsay in Northumberland, said: "Of course it would be very difficult to turn that kind of offer down. Most farmers are in debt and are forced to live a poor existence - it's a no-brainer."

Only using land for housing developments would bring in a similar return, he said. But getting planning permission for doing so is virtually impossible, Mr Dodd claimed.

Campaign to Protect Rural England North-East policy officer Nic Best warned stopping sheep grazing on North-East hills will have an impact on the landscape as it will affect the spread of vegetation. But he added it is becoming increasingly expensive for farmers to maintain the landscape.

"Given the state of agriculture, I can understand why farmers would be looking for an additional income," said Mr Best. "If people want to stop them taking wind farms, they're going to have to do something about paying them a decent income for farming."

He backed a study into the long-term impact wind farm developments could have on Northumberland tourism.

A 2002 study for Visit Scotland, the country's national tourism body, found 28% of people said they would avoid parts of the countryside with wind farms. However, 18% of people said wind turbines enhanced their experience.

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Opponents blast council in planning row

A tiny North council which is set to rule on three major wind farm applications has admitted having no planning officers of its own capable of dealing with them, The Journal can reveal.

Berwick Borough Council has instead resorted to hiring planning consultants to cope with the mammoth task of handling the bids, which are all due to be decided at the same meeting on May 29.

One of the firms is Darlington-based Blackett, Hart and Pratt, which was hired last November.

It has already produced the report to councillors on the 10 turbines proposed for Moorsyde, near Allerdean, and is currently working on further reports into nine at Barmoor, near Lowick, and a further 10 at Wandylaw, near North Charlton on the boundary with Alnwick District.

And the council has also hired in Dr Joan Rees, the former Director of Development in Redcar and Cleveland, as its acting Head of Development Services.

In March she replaced senior planner John Hayward, who left the department, but is believed to be working only two days a week under her existing contract.

Council leader John Stephenson yesterday confirmed the situation at Berwick.

"We have had significant difficulties recruiting replacement senior officers because we can't afford to pay the highest rates," he said. "It would be accurate to say that we don't have a planning officer of our own at this point in time capable of dealing with the outstanding wind farm applications.

"That is why we have turned to experts from outside the area, to assist our planning department."

But the concept has sparked outrage from opponents to the schemes, who say the authority - which is the second smallest in England - should hold up its hands and admit it can't cope.

Last night Moorsyde Action Group chairman Mike Maud said the council was now completely out of its depth.

"The borough has refused the many approaches we have made to meet with a responsible officer to discuss the outstanding issues with Moorsyde," he said.

"Despite frequent and repeated approaches by us, and by councillors acting on our behalf, we have been unable to meet with a planning officer.

"We're amazed that the council intends considering three hugely complex and controversial planning applications together at a single meeting with a newly formed planning committee.

"In any other circumstances, such a scale of development would be considered at a public inquiry with expert evidence being presented over several weeks before a highly qualified Planning Inspector.

"It is the future of the borough's landscape, people and tourist businesses that matter, not any thoughts of failure of a council department to meet its performance targets."

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System fuels the scramble for cash

Last week, The Journal revealed how the Government's Renewables Obligation system is prompting a scramble for wind farm sites in the North-East.

It sets a target - which rises year by year - for what proportion of electricity suppliers must source from renewables.

To hit their target, suppliers must buy Renewables Obligation Certificates (ROCs) from generating firms who use renewable technology.

One ROC is awarded for every megawatt hour (MWh) of renewable power produced. The generators can sell these ROCs to suppliers for about £46 each.

The cost that suppliers pay for these ROCs is passed on to consumers. At present, about £7 of the typical annual household bill pays for suppliers' expenditure on ROCs, though this is expected to rise to £20 as the targets increase.

Our report described how generators are favouring on-shore wind farms because they are much cheaper to develop than technology such as offshore wind or tidal power.

Therefore, the Government is considering changing its policy to offer more ROCs per MWh for more expensive technology. This could reduce the amount of money companies can make from wind farms. However, this will not change until 2009, and any wind farm that is already established by that point will not be affected.

For that reason, there is a suspicion that firms are racing to acquire sites before the cut-off point - and the huge amount of money they can make from ROCs mean they can afford to offer large payments to landowners who are willing to allow turbines to be erected.