THE North East's drive to become the "green fuel" capital of the country is continuing with the opening of a second One Green Route - a network of garage forecourts selling environmentally-friendly biodiesel.

Peter McGough's garage in Low Willington is the second independent business in the region to be branded as a One Green Route, supplying fuel based on vegetable oil.

The One Green Route project is being spearheaded by North-East Biofuels, a unique consortium of petrochemical businesses, farmers, agricultural suppliers and regional development agency, One NorthEast.

The group was formed to help the region exploit the potential of renewable fuels and to ensure it was geared up to support this growth industry and stimulate the market for its products.

Key to this is raising awareness of biodiesel and its benefits among consumers and making it readily available at filling stations. North East Biofuels has been active in encouraging garages to look at swapping to biodiesel.

"We run a business in a rural area and are a major station on the way up to the Durham Dales so we are conscious of our environment and keen to look at ways of tackling emissions," said Mr McGough. The owner of the first garage to go down the One Green Route had remarked on the improved performance car users had experienced with the biodiesel so they had high hopes of a growing demand for this greener product.

Mr McGough's garage and car sales form a family-run firm, employing 13 staff, and he hopes that, if the take-up of the new fuel increases, it will boost business as well as benefit the environment.

Christine Smith, deputy chairman of One NorthEast, said: "We can no longer rely solely on traditional fossil fuels for our energy, not only because this is a finite resource, but also because of the damaging effects of carbon dioxide on the environment.

"If we really want the North-East to take the issue of alternative fuels seriously, we need people like Peter and his garage business, who are prepared to look to the future and help make a very visible commitment to this initiative."

This latest addition to the One Green Route network comes as work starts on the world's largest biodiesel production plant at Seal Sands in the Tees Valley. Biofuels Corporation has chosen the Seal Sands site as the base for its £25m complex, developing renewable and greener fuels from crops such as oilseed rape.

One NorthEast has backed the project with a £1.2m Regional Selective Assistance grant to help fund two plants on the site, with the prospect of three more to follow.

John Reynolds, a former boss at ICI in the Tees Valley and now a farmer, is chairman of the North East Biofuels consortium. He said: "Clearly the development of the One Green Routes is just part of our work but it is a very visual example of the North-East's commitment to this 'green' agenda.

"North-East farmers could also reap the benefits of the growth of the sector, in particular the development of the Biofuels Corporation plant because the company is interested in taking oilseed rape for biodiesel production from local sources for the first 250,000 tonne complex."

The biodiesel supplied to the One Green Routes is produced by Petroplus in the Tees Valley, also an active member of North-East Biofuels.

Ian Waller, development manager at Petroplus, said: "North-East Biofuels was formed very recently but already the consortium is growing in numbers and influence. We are particularly active in the Tees Valley and are preparing a business case for a rapeseed crushing plant close to the Tees which could convert as much as m tonnes of raw crop into 100,000 tonnes of virgin oil a year - currently the nearest commercial facility is on Merseyside."