A county councillor hopes wind turbines could power a new electric ferry over Windermere.

Councillor Bill Wearing, who represents Grange, made the suggestion as Cumbria County Council's carbon management strategy was scrutinised at the end-of-year cabinet meeting.

Cllr Wearing said: “Its about time that the county council gets into the wind turbine and electrical generation business.

"We must have wind turbines placed on all county council estates.”

“It should be possible for a future electric-powered ferry on Windermere to be fully powered by a council-owned wind generator.” Stewart Young, the leader of the council and chair of the cabinet meeting, was in agreement.

He said: "The county council is actively looking at replacing the current diesel ferry on Lake Windermere with an electric one and we intend to include funding for it in our budget next year.

"We are also looking at reducing our carbon emissions by generating our own electricity, either by wind or solar, on council-owned land and buildings.

"Obviously it would be great if we could use some of that to power our new ferry, which would have to be sensitively done given it is in the National Park."

Bristol City Council (BCC) is the only other council in England to consider placing wind turbines on its estates.

A spokesperson for the BCC said: “We estimate that the capacity to generate 2.5kW would cost about £10,000 and may not payback in the equipment’s lifetime.

"Whereas a large-scale turbine – 1MW to 2.5MW – would cost £2 million to £3.3m and the payback period could range from five years to less than one year respectively.

A spokesperson for Cumbria County Council said: “There currently is not an agreed minute on a council policy or position at the moment on wind turbines."

The first ever electric passenger vessel for Windermere was launched by Lake Cruises in 2018 and is currently passenger only.