There are hopes that Glastonbury could pave the way for a greener future as the town's transition movement announced plans to form its own power company.

The Transition Town movement is hoping to build a small wind-farm in the town in a bid to help the community become self-sufficient.

"The idea is to set up some five kilowatt wind turbines," said Gordon White, from Transition Town Energy Group.

"The power that the turbines would generate would feed power back into the grid, with the money raised by the project being used to expand the scheme."

Mr White believes that if successful, it would be one of the first community-wide renewable energy projects in the United Kingdom.

"Once one community pulls together to create something like this, it becomes easier for other places to do something similar," he said.

"There are a few sites available – although so far we have not tested any of them for suitability – and we believe that there are Government grants that could help to fund the project."

"The turbines we have in mind are virtually silent – they are less than four decibels above the background noise level and stand at 12-feet tall, from the bottom of the turbine to the tip of the blade."

The cost of buying and putting up a turbine is expected to be around £24,000 and it is hoped that subject to interest and planning permission, it could take as little as four months to get it up and running.

Mr White added: "Not only could we help the environment in reducing carbon emissions, it would firmly put Glastonbury at the front of the transition movement and help to fund more projects of a similar nature in the town."

If you would be interested in helping to set up the community's first renewable power company, contact Gordon White on 01458 831492 or email splottsmoor@gmail.com.