History made as Kirkstone Pass Inn wind turbines are switched on (From The Westmorland Gazette)

History made as Kirkstone Pass Inn wind turbines are switched on

4:35pm Friday 30th March 2012 in Business By Scott Kirk, Reporter

WIND turbines were switched on at the Kirkstone Pass Inn today in a historic first for the Lake District National Park.

The switching-on ceremony took place this afternoon after the LDNPA's development control committee passed the first ever cluster of wind turbines in the national park in a meeting in December.

It means that hundreds of tonnes of carbon will no longer be pumped into the atmosphere, as well as helping the pub to save thousands of pounds in fuel costs for generators to power electricity at the pub.

"There are one or two applications that the LDNPA receives which are really ones for the future, and this is certainly one of them," said chief executive of the LDNPA Richard Leafe, who conducted the formal switch-off of the costly generators.

"It's been a truly marvellous effort from the team here.

"This application does not mean that we are going to cover the national park with wind turbines but there are certain examples where we need renewable energy and we want to create a low-carbon Lake District."

Landlord John Jennings said he was delighted that the wind turbines project had come to fruiton.

"Because of the work here we can keep this historic pub going for many years to come," Mr Jennings said.