A Borough council is switching to "green" electricity to supply its large sites.

From October this year, Sedgefield council's offices in Green Lane, Spennymoor, Chilton Depot and the leisure centres at Newton Aycliffe, Spennymoor and Ferryhill and the pavilion area of Sunnydale Leisure Centre, in Shildon,will be supplied with electricity from renewable resources.

Under the two-year contract with London Electricity, all electricity supplied to the sites will be produced from sources such as wind, solar, wave and hydro.

Ferryhill Leisure Centre already uses green energy, but electricity to the other sites is produced from conventional fuels including coal, natural gas and nuclear power.

Neil Barnes, energy officer for the council's Local Agenda 21 team, said: "We tender for our utilities every couple of years and we try to reduce the cost to the council as much as we can.

"Because we are also committed to Local Agenda 21 and sustainable development, we put in a specification that we should maximise the supply of green electricity.

"We got in a range of very competitive tenders and got a fair price for 100 per cent green supply to the six main operational sites within Sedgefield Borough Council, which makes up 72 per cent of our total electricity consumption."

The additional cost to the council of switching to London Electricity is just over £8,000 a year, which falls within the budget provision.

The reduction in carbon dioxide emissions as a result of the switch is equivalent to planting 5,000 trees, or four acres of new forest, which would cost the council £25,000.

The Government has set a renewable energy target of ten per cent across the UK by the year 2010 - this move will put Sedgefield more than three times ahead of the target already.

Mr Barnes, who will present a report on the matter to the council's cabinet on Thursday, said: "We are committed to saving energy and we are committed to sustainable development

"We are a Local Agenda 21 team involving waste management, energy management and sustainable development issues and we are trying to enthuse that policy through council departments, business plans and throughout the community as well."