WIND turbines have been switched on at the Kirkstone Pass Inn in an historic first for the Lake District National Park.

A special ceremony took place after the LDNPA's development control committee passed the first ever cluster of wind turbines in the national park at a meeting in December.

It means that hundreds of tonnes of carbon will no longer be pumped into the atmosphere through diesel-consuming generators, which cost the pub £30,000 a year to run and around £10,000 a year to replace and repair.

John Jennings, landlord of the pub, said the fuel costs prompted him to put the pub on the market three years ago but he could not sell the Kirkstone Pass Inn because prospective owners did not want to take on the cost of the generators.

Now, however, his son-in-law Roy Green and daughter, Claire, will take on the running of 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 examples where we need renewable energy and we want to create a low-carbon Lake District.”

Mr Jennings said he was delighted that the £150,000 wind turbines project had come to fruition.