A PLAN for a hydropower scheme at Troutbeck has been lodged with the Lake District National Park Authority.

The proposal for Woundale Beck, Troutbeck Park Farm, is part of The National Trust’s ambitions to meet 50 per cent of its energy needs through renewables by 2020.

It is one of 11 hydropower schemes the conservation charity has planned for the Lake District which, it says, when all are in place, will meet the energy needs of around 1,500 properties.

Most of these schemes are still in the planning stages but three have been completed in the national park.

The largest, Hayeswater, is generating enough power to provide 300 households with electricity.

“The Woundale Beck proposal is sensitive to the local wildlife, habitats and the ancient trees in the woodland area of Hird Wood,” said a spokesperson for The National Trust.