Carlisle Airport could be the home of a £1.5m renewable power plant - within just three years.

Plans by Brampton and Beyond Energy Ltd (BABE) for an anaerobic digester near Irthington look set to materialise as a potential site on the airfield is earmarked.

Negotiations between the community group and bosses at Stobart Energy have been successful and a site on the western edge of the airfield has been identified. It is triangular area of woodland Stobart plans to remove.

Tim Coombe, chairman of BABE, expects initial talks will lead to a "reasonable leasing deal" anticipated to last for a minimum of 20 years - the timespan of the business case for an anaerobic digester.

He said: "I'm extremely heartened that a small community group like ours has made a positive suggestion to Stobart about how there was mutual advantage in them allowing us to lease a site on their airport, and that they have accepted our arguments and appear to be willing to negotiate in good faith. 

"I hope they see the benefits of working with the community actively and I'm looking forward to a productive partnership with them."

The anaerobic digester would ideally have a constant output of 500kW and would generate enough energy to power up to 250 homes.

Several project managers were last week invited to tender for the contract to manage the project through to planning.

BABE is hoping to have a project manager on board in December and to have planning approval by the middle of next year. It would then be at least 12 to 18 months before it becomes operational.

Traffic to and from the plant would be minimal as it would mainly be fuelled by manure from a nearby dairy farm and silage made from grass cuttings at the airport.

There are a couple of industrial companies within 500 yards of the site but smell is not expected to be a problem if the plant is run properly.

BABE's vision is to generate renewable energy on a larger scale for the benefit of Brampton and the surrounding villages. 

Mr Coombe said that in the future there are other thing they would like to consider. 

"You treat power like you treat petrol, in that it doesn't matter who produces the petrol or the power, you buy it," he explained.

"This is our contribution to the renewable energy mix in the UK. 

"Depending on how the project goes, one of the benefits might be that we would be in a position to offer a reduced price for our power for certain sectors of Brampton, but that's something that's a long way down stream. 

"The aim of this project is to generate income for community benefit of whatever form that is. 

Mr Coombe said: "The site would lend itself to having a number of micro enterprises that would exploit the surplus heat.

"One of which might be - which would be attractive to us - a small polytunnel complex growing vegetables and fruit, that couldn't otherwise be growing in the Cumbrian climate."

A feasibility study found that 93 per cent of the 262 Brampton respondents supported renewable energy, and that more than half would be happy to have an anaerobic digester in the wider Brampton area.

BABE is due to submit a proposal to the Department for Energy and Climate Change for grant funding. 

Additional funding would be generated through a community share offer, something 40 per cent of respondents said they would be willing to consider.