Austin Gregg of Gregg Electricals, has successfully installed 12 solar panels to the roof of the Bedale Athletic Sports Club and Community Centre which will save £2,369 in the first year, with the payback estimated to be six years.

At a cost to install of £14,057, this is not something the association could have done without grant aid from the Tarmac Landfill Communities Fund, established to raise funds for community and environmental projects across the county.

Darlington and Stockton Times: Bedale Sports Club Chair Martyn Coombs with Austin Gregg

The sports association had to meet strict guidelines to access the funding, being within seven miles of a Tarmac quarry, waste, cement or lime site and ten miles within a landfill site and operator.

Sports club chairman Martyn Coombs said: "As a voluntary association of sports clubs with over 350 members, it is becoming increasingly difficult to manage expenditure without increasing our fees to a level that might prohibit members of the community enrolling in the association, so the grant aid from the Tarmac Limited Landfill Communities Fund was a godsend."